


teenagers scare the living shit out of me

by reptilianraven



Category: Let's Play Cyberpunk Red - Polygon (Web Series)
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Canon-Typical Violence, Friendship, Humor, M/M, Mutual Pining, Mystery, nobody asked for a high school au and yet here i am. delivering.
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-05
Updated: 2020-07-20
Packaged: 2021-03-05 03:40:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 22,849
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25087801
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/reptilianraven/pseuds/reptilianraven
Summary: “We’re not friends,” Dasha says airily. “I’ve just decided, after what I’ve seen today, that maybe you two aren’t as lame as the rest of the student population.”“I’ll take it,” Vang0 shrugs “Do you guys wanna grab some pizza or something? If I stream and people see I have friends, my viewcount might go up.”“I love pizza,” Burger says, much too solemnly. “You’re such a good friend, Vang0.”“Again,” Dasha stops walking, and Vang0 almost careens right into her. “Not friends. Say it with me. Not friends.”“Not friends,” Vang0 nods.“Not friends is just one word away from friends,” Burger says.“Oh, lord,” Dasha sighs.-The year is 2045 and something fishy is going on at Night City High School. A trio of meddling kids, Vang0, Burger, and Dasha, want to figure out what’s going on, but before they can fight crime, they’ll first have to survive the trials and tribulations of being a teenager.
Relationships: Dapper Dasha & Vang0 Bang0 & Burger Chainz, Vang0 Bang0/Burger Chainz
Comments: 78
Kudos: 157





	1. YOU ARE HERE IN DETENTION

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this fic will be as silly and over the top as high school popular media is. murder! comedy! high school feelings! 
> 
> quick disclaimer that i am no longer in high school and also not american. im literally basing this off of the ridiculousness of high school popular media.
> 
> content warnings for this fic: murders happen! beware!

The thing about himself, Vang0 thinks, is that he’s pretty sure he’s the coolest person ever.

Hear him out.

He’s a damn good gamer, he’s been playing Sixnite for a few months now, and sure, he isn’t good enough to get into legit esports yet, but he streams and he’s almost broken 20 viewers for every time he goes online. He’s a genius, thank you very much, and he’s damn well sure he’s got the highest academic standing in the senior year level. He’s a proficient hacker, already good enough to fuck around with websites and change records and maybe make other streamers follow his account. These are cool things. He's cool.

But Night City High School is a festering hell pit, so no matter how cool Vang0 is, that won’t change the fact that he’s small, that he has no friends, that everybody else will always see him as a huge loser.

Somebody shoves past him in the hallway, sending Vang0 sprawling to the floor.

“Watch it, Braces Barker,” The guy says with a smirk. A few girls standing around titter as Vang0 rights himself.

“Fuck off. The name’s Vang0 Bang0.” He says his name, not his legal one, but still his damn name. He throws up his VB sign defiantly. 

The dude just scoffs and walks away. Which, not fun, but at least Vang0 didn’t get punched in the face this time. He’ll take it.

It’s lunch break and he heads over to the cafeteria to grab a chicken sandwich then he promptly ducks out of there without bumping into anybody else who’ll call him uncreative names. Seriously, they’ve been calling him Braces Barker since sophomore year, as if orthodontics are just the funniest thing ever. 

Vang0 doesn’t like eating in the cafeteria. It’s too crowded, too noisy, too many people who could glance at him and giggle for some reason or the other. It sets his anxiety off like nothing else, so he always eats lunch elsewhere. Today, his usual spot in the parking lot in front of school is filled with a bunch of stoners, so he walks out back to the ridiculously out of place football field and finds a spot under the bleachers.

He’s not alone, he notes, as he sits down on the grass, which is a novelty in Night City. There on the other end under the bleachers is Dapper Dasha, and sat on a bench close to the school building is Burger Chainz.

Which, Vang0 isn’t a stalker, he’d like to point out. He just likes knowing things.

And boy, is there stuff to know about those two.

He watches Dasha pull out a cigarette and light it, taking a drag with no problem, blowing it out and watching the smoke wisp out into the air. She blinks, then turns her head to Vang0, sending him a death glare, and Vang0 scrambles to look away, turning to look at Burger instead. 

Burger seems to be...having a conversation with a singular pigeon.

Alright then.

Neither of them look like they’re going to bother Vang0, so he unwraps his chicken sandwich and settles in to have his lunch in peace.

He gets approximately four and a half bites in before he’s interrupted. 

“Hey, Braces Barker!” Somebody is walking towards him from the school building. Vang0 squints, switching on his optic monitor to zoom in and, ugh. It’s one of those assholes from the Seinfeld clique, or something. Vang0 thinks his name is Ross? Rod? Rock? Vang0 likes to know things, but not things about shit he doesn’t care about.

“Vang0 Bang0,” he says around a mouthful of bread, half heartedly throwing up a VB.

“Whatever,” Rock says, stopping to stand in front of Vang0 looking down at him with his hands in the pockets of his letterman jacket. “You got a minute? ”

“No,” Vang0 says, chewing.

“Cool, I’ve got a job for you.”

Vang0 swallows. “No.”

“The thing is that I failed my last physics test—”

“Why are you still talking to me?” Vang0 sighs, wrapping his chicken sandwich up again. He has a feeling he won’t be able to finish it with where this conversation is going.

“—and I can’t have that on my transcript, I’m trying to get a football scholarship, yeah?”

“Words cannot begin to describe how much I do not care.”

“Well,” Rock barrels on forward, like a battering ram who wants to speak to the manager. “I asked around and heard that you’re the best hacker at NCHS. Better even than those software dev club geeks.”

“I’m awesome, yes,” Vang0 raises an eyebrow. He’s well aware that he’s encroaching on dangerous territory where pissing off somebody bigger and stronger than him is a bad idea, but Vang0 genuinely can’t stop himself from being an asshole. “Your point?”

“Could you, y’know?” Rock makes typing motions. “Do some hacker shit.”

“No.”

“Come on, dude!” Rock whines. 

“No.” Vang0 is too intelligent for this conversation, so he stands to leave, but Rock blocks his way. Vang0 rolls his eyes. “What can I possibly gain from hacking your transcript? You have nothing to offer me.”

“If you do it,” Rock’s gaze suddenly turns dark, tired of playing around. “I won’t pummel you into the ground.”

The familiar swoop of fear churns in Vang0’s gut, but not even that can stop him from opening his stupid mouth and saying “You’re not even aiming for creativity points, are you?”

That pisses Rock off. Big shocker.

He grabs Vango by the lapels of his jacket, lifting him up so that he’s on his tip toes, and slams Vang0 into one of the support beams of the bleachers. Vang0’s head bashes against the support beam, spinning with sharp pain.

“You’ll do this for me, Braces Barker,” Rock growls. “Or else I’ll make your life a living hell.”

Vang0’s heart is beating fast and hard in his ears, a thundering drumbeat of _get away, get away, get away._ But Vang0’s a stubborn piece of shit.

“Go fuck yourself,” Vang0 says. 

He really should’ve expected the quick punch to the gut Rock gives him.

But as Vang0 is doubled over in pain, leaning on the support beam, he doesn’t expect somebody to call out “Hey!”

Vang0 looks up and sees Burger walking towards him, having abandoned his riveting avian conversation. Burger says “What do you think you’re doing, Ross?”

“Back off, Chainz,” Rock grabs Vang0 by the jacket again, and Vang0 can’t quite hide his hiss of fear. “This isn’t any of your business.”

“I’ll show you business,” And then—

And then Burger grabs Rock by the shoulder, turning him, and socking him so hard in the jaw a bit of blood comes spraying out. Rock staggers backwards, letting go of Vang0, and he groans in pain as he runs back to the school building.

Vang0 leans back against the support beam, heart still rabbiting quickly, and watches as Burger, a guy who is way, way more huge than Rock is, turns to him.

Vang0 shrinks against the support beam.

“Woah, hey,” Burger says gently, as if talking to a spooked rat in an alley. “Are ya okay?

“What do you want?” Vang0 says quickly. He can handle a punch from Rock, but if he pisses off Burger? Vang0 quite likes his internal organs staying _within_ his body, please. “Do you want me to hack something for you too? I can do that. I can do anything with computers.”

“What?” Burger’s eyebrows are scrunched up. “I don’t want anything. Can y’hear me alright? I asked if you were okay.”

“I’m—” _Not used to anybody but my Mom asking me that question._ “--fine. I’m fine.”

“That’s good,” Burger smiles, and jesus, it’s a sunshine and rainbows smile, what the fuck? “I’m Burger Chainz.”

“I know,” Vang0 says. Then he realizes how fucking creepy that is to say. “I mean—Fuck. I’m Vang0 Bang0.”

“That’s a cool name!”

“Thanks, I made it myself,” Vang0 jokes.

And Burger actually laughs.

Okay, is Vang0 dreaming or is another human being at NCHS actually being nice to him? 

Is Vang0 actually...going to have a good day?

Nope.

“There they are, sir!” Rock says, running back to them from the school building with, fuck, with a teacher in tow. “Those two beat me up!”

“Chainz, Barker. Detention.” The teacher says.

“Oh, come on,” Vang0 sighs. 

“What? He’s lying!” Burger says, sounding honestly shocked and offended that somebody would lie about things.

“Of course you’d say that,” Rock says, acting pitiful to the teacher.

“Why don’t you ask her,” Burger turns to where Dasha is at the other end of the bleachers, still smoking. “She saw the whole thing!”

“Woodrose,” The teacher says. “Detention.”

Dasha blows a puff of smoke out. “I didn’t do anything.”

“Yeah, she really didn’t,” Vang0 murmurs.

“No smoking on school premises,” The teacher tells her. “I expect all of you to be in room 2-A4 at 3:30pm. Lunch break’s almost over. All of you, get to class.”

Dasha stubs her cigarette on the ground and says, completely deadpan, “Yipee.”

-

The thing about himself, Vang0 thinks, is that all the intelligence he has comes with the nasty side effect of self awareness. He damn well knows he lies to himself. He knows he isn’t cool. He knows people only talk to him when they want to take advantage of him. He knows he’s a huge loser, and will most probably stay one for the rest of his pathetic life. These are the magnificent thoughts in his head when he walks into room 2-A4 at 3pm on the dot, because it’s not like he has friends to talk to and make him late. 

The room, when he gets there, has the chairs arranged in a circle like an AA meeting. At the front, there is a huge, busted ass animatronic of NCHS’s stupid mascot, Robbie the RoboDog.

Great. 

He sits down with a huff. A few seconds later, Burger comes in and takes a seat right next to Vang0, smiling as if this whole situation doesn’t bother him at all. Just before she would be considered late, Dasha comes in, hands in her green bomber jacket, chewing a piece of gum. They sit there, Dasha sitting apathetically, Vang0 sitting miserably, and Burger sitting like he’s just waiting to go pick up a Build A Bear, until the teacher from earlier walks in.

“Alright, ne-er doers,” the teacher says. “You earned yourselves one hour with good ol’ Robbie, here.” He plugs Robbie into the wall socket, what is this, 1998? “Be nice and become better people."

The teacher leaves and shuts the door as Robbie powers up at a fucking glacial pace. After five excruciating minutes of watching this animatronic halt and stutter into movement, the screen on its face lights up with an OwO and Robbie begins speaking.

“GOOD AFTERNOON, STUDENTS,” Robbie says with its robotic voice. It turns to Vang0. “VEE BARKER,—”

“Vang0 Bang0,” he corrects. VB up, baby.

“—BURGER CHAINZ,—”

“That’s me, sir!”

“—DASHA EVANGELINE WOODROSE.”

Dasha stays silent. 

“YOU ARE HERE IN DETENTION BECAUSE YOU HAVE COMMITTED AN OFFENSE. OH NO!” Robbie’s face screen changes to a >n< before flashing back to OwO. “BUT JUST BECAUSE YOU MADE A MISTAKE, THAT DOESN’T MEAN YOU ARE A BAD PERSON.”

“Oh my god,” Vang0 says quietly. 

Burger shushes him. 

“TODAY, I WILL HELP YOU THROUGH A ONE HOUR LONG SESSION OF GUIDED MEDITATION. HOPEFULLY, THIS WILL HELP YOU BECOME MORE IN TUNE WITH YOURSELF, YOUR MORALS, AND YOUR FUTURE ACTIONS.”

“Yeah, no, I’m not doing this,” Dasha says, standing up.

“DASHA EVANGELINE WOODROSE, PLEASE SIT DOWN.”

Dasha walks towards the plug in the wall socket. Vang0 grins as Burger gasps.

“DASHA EVANGELINE WOODROSE, PLEASE DO NOT UNPLU—”

Dasha pulls the plug.

“DASHA EVANGELI—FUCK.”

Robbie powers down.

“You killed him!” Burger cries.

“I just saved us all from the torture of an hour long guided meditation,” Dasha twirls Robbie’s plug.

“You’re really cool, I like you,” Vang0 blurts out. A half second after the words are out of his mouth, he realizes what he said and promptly wants to crawl into a hole and die.

Dasha doesn’t scoff at him though. She just levels him with an appraising gaze and says, “You had some balls saying no to Ross earlier. You’re not too bad yourself, Braces Barker.”

“Vang0 Bang0,” he says, standing.

“Wait, a second,” Burger says, still in his seat, looking at Dasha and Vang0 going for the door. “We can’t just leave.”

“Yeah we can,” Dasha shrugs, like the cool kid she is. “You see anybody here to stop us?”

“No, but—” Burger frowns, looking very nervous.

“Burger, right?” Dasha asks. Burger nods. “You punch real good.”

Burger brightens at that. “Thanks! I like your jacket.”

“Thanks,” Dasha says, opening the door and looking out for a moment. “There’s nobody out in the hallway. Nobody will know. Unless you actually _want_ to have guided meditation.”

“I suck at guided meditation.” Burger sighs, standing up. “Okay, I’ll come with.”

“Nice!” Vang0 raises a fist into the air. Because he is a huge loser. 

Dasha walks out of the room and, damn, she walks fast. She walks like she’s on a mission, constantly. Burger seems to catch up fine because he’s got brisk walking legs, but Vang0 has to gently book it.

“Hey, Dasha, Burger, does this mean we’re friends now?” Vang0 asks them.

“Hell yeah!” Burger says, grinning at Vang0. “I love making friends.”

“We’re not friends,” Dasha says airily. “I’ve just decided, after what I’ve seen today, that maybe you two aren’t as lame as the rest of the student population.”

“I’ll take it,” Vang0 shrugs “Do you guys wanna grab some pizza or something? If I stream and people see I have friends, my viewcount might go up.”

“I love pizza,” Burger says, much too solemnly. “You’re such a good friend, Vang0.”

“Again,” Dasha stops walking, and Vang0 almost careens right into her. “Not friends. Say it with me. Not friends.”

“Not friends,” Vang0 nods.

“Not friends is just one word away from friends,” Burger says.

“Oh, lord,” Dasha sighs. “Look. Don’t take this the wrong way, but I think you two might be useful to me. That's why I'm talking to you”

“Aw,” Burger places a hand on his chest.

“Honestly,” Vang0 says. “That's the nicest thing somebody who isn’t my mom has said to me all week.” A pause. “So, pizza?”

Dasha raises an eyebrow. “You’re paying.”

“Fair enough.”

“Hell yeah!” Burger cheers. “Free food with almost friends!”

Dasha rolls her eyes, but Vang0 swears that he saw a little bit of a smile pull at her lips. 

They keep walking, and Vang0 actually feels pretty good, all things considered. He’s going to have some pizza with two people who don’t want to actively beat him up and it might be fun.

Maybe Vang0 is going to have a good day afterall.

Then they turn into a hallway and see the dead body.

They all stop walking. 

Right in the middle of the hall, sprawled out in their own pool of blood, is an unmoving body. From here, Vang0 can see where the blood blooms from the side of their gut, spilling out onto the growing puddle on the floor.

Vang0 looks at them, his body feeling as if it had been dropped into a vat of ice water. Next to him, Burger and Dasha look with different kinds of horror written on their faces.

The body doesn’t move. The pool of blood inches larger.

The thing about himself, Vang0 thinks, is that he’s a lot of things. He’s a genius hacker that people want to use. He’s a lonely nerd who has nobody on his side. But most of all, he’s a teenager.

He’s just a kid.

As he stares at the body, he thinks that now, he’s a kid who’s just gotten himself, Burger, and Dasha, into something very, very dangerous.

So much for having a good day.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> im [actualbird](http://actualbird.tumblr.com/) on tumblr! leave me a comment, they make my day :D


	2. do we get a team name?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> She says, “I have a proposition for the both of you.”
> 
> “Yes,” Vang0 says immediately.
> 
> “I didn’t even say it yet.” Dasha says. She doesn’t know if this conversation is going to be easier or harder than she expected, with that opening.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i have very intensely fixated on this fic so here is an update already.
> 
> before you read,[ i drew the teenaged trio!!! check em out here!!!!](https://actualbird.tumblr.com/post/622982857387917312/teenaged-cyberpunk-trio-also-fanart-of-my-high)

Dasha doesn’t like a lot of things.

She doesn’t like pastel colors, she doesn’t like Calculus, she doesn’t like nearly everybody at NCHS, she doesn’t like her parents, but most pertinent to the situation right now is the fact that Dasha really, really doesn’t like cops.

Unfortunately, due to her and two other dunderheads discovering a dead body an hour ago means that she has to give her statement to the officer in front of her who is treating her like a child. She tunes out the officer saying shit like “I know this is hard for you but—” and takes in her surroundings.

Draped around her shoulders is a useless shock blanket, and a few meters away she can see Burger and Vang0, both in their own shock blankets, also giving their statements. She spots movement in the corner of her eye and turns to the school’s main entrance. There, she sees a couple of paramedics wheeling out a body bag.

He was a student, the officer told her.

He was a kid.

Killed.

“Kid?” The officer says. “You still with me?”

“Yeah,” Dasha looks away from the body bag, back to the officer.

“Did you, by any chance, know the victim, er—” He looks down at the note holo screen on his wrist. “Anthony ‘Tonez’ Walker? Did you two ever hang out?”

“I don’t hang out with anybody,” Dasha tells him. 

“Alright.” He types that down onto his screen, then he looks back at Dasha, eyes squinted a bit. “And just to be sure, you didn’t notice anything strange, when you found the body. Anything at all.”

“Aside from the fact that there was a dead person in the hallway,” she says coldly. “No.”

“Miss Woodrose!” Calls out somebody. There in the parking lot is the limousine and standing by its side is Geoffrey, dressed in his usual black suit uniform and sunglasses. 

“Can I go now?” Dasha asks the officer, tilting her head at Geoffrey. “I already told you everything I know.”

The officer sighs, tapping at his holo screen until it flickers away. “Yeah, you can go.”

Dasha stands, shrugging off the shock blanket, and walks to Geoffrey.

“Thanks for the assist, Geoffrey,” Dasha says.

“It’s my pleasure, Miss Woodrose. You looked like you wanted to get out of that conversation.”

“I sure did.”

“May I ask what happened?” Geoffrey opens the door to the limousine. “Was there an accident at school today?”

“You’ll probably read it on the newsfeed tonight,” Dasha gets into the limousine, settling into the leather seats. Even though he’s wearing sunglasses, Dasha can tell he’s concerned. “I’m fine, Geoffrey. I always am.”

“You always are” Geoffrey nods, closing the door. He walks around the front of the limousine and into the driver’s seat, and through the little window of the divider, he says. “But you don’t always have to be, Miss Woodrose.”

“You know me,” Dasha looks out the window as Geoffrey pulls out of the school. She watches the building disappear from view. “Can’t half ass anything.”

Geoffrey doesn’t say anything in reply to that, so Dasha leans against the window of the limousine and looks at the scenery of Night City as they drive past it. The sun is setting, drowning the city in a dark orange, dusk blotting the sky with deep blues. As the sun slowly disappears, Night City begins to look like how it’s meant to look like. Dark and illuminated only by bright, garish, artificial lights. Seedy buildings and dangerous alleyways. A city smudged in grease, buzzing with the hum of machines, filled to the brim with sad stories and crimes. 

Dasha was born here. She grew up here. She damn well knows Night City isn’t the safest place.

But she at least thought the night of the city wouldn’t touch a high school filled with kids.

What an idiot she was, to think that.

As Geoffrey drives, the scenery slowly shifts as they enter the more high end district of Night City. The roads where the people walking are dressed in designer clothes, where everybody has the latest cybernetics, where the only way people know how to look is down at others.

Geoffrey pulls up at the lobby of her apartment complex and she thanks him as she gets out. As she walks into the lobby, she’s well aware of how the other prim and proper occupants stare at her and whisper. She looks nothing like them. Rugged and rough, nothing like the polished people, the polished walls and floors.

She gets into the elevator. There’s a lady there who takes a step away from Dasha when she walks and, and Dasha rolls her eyes as she taps her key card against the elevator controls. The lady looks puzzled when Dasha presses the button for the penthouse, looking Dasha up and down with disbelief when she gets off on her own floor.

Dasha doesn’t like living up there either, lady. The company is shit.

The elevator zooms up quickly, and Dasha gets out on the top floor. She walks the short distance of the hallway, taps her keycard to the apartment floor, and enters.

[Winona, her dog,](http://www.dog-learn.com/dog-breeds/bichon-frise/images/bichon-frise-u4.jpg) is always the first to greet her when she comes home.

“Hey there, girl!” Dasha crouches down, petting the soft fur on Winona’s head. Winona yips happily and Dasha smiles for the first time today. “Did you miss me? Yes you did! Oh, yes you did!”

“Dasha.” A voice calls out from the dining room. The smile falls off of Dasha’s face immediately as she stands and walks over there, seeing Mother seated at the dining table, idly scrolling through a handheld holo screen. She doesn’t even look up as she says, “You’re home late. What happened?”

“There was a murder at school,” Dasha says. 

“There you go again—” Mother says, looking up. Her gaze is a bored one. “—with your attention seeking lies. What _actually_ happened?”

Dasha clenches her fist. “I’m not lying. There was a murder at school. It should hit the newsfeeds in a few hours, if NCHS doesn’t want to cover it up. A couple of other students and I discovered the body.”

Mother’s expression doesn’t change. “You got detention, didn’t you?”

“Yeah, but—”

Mother sighs, and Dasha _hates_ how that sound still makes her heart clench. Hates how there’s still a stupid part of her brain that still wants to make Mother happy.

“You’re graduating this year, and you still act like a rebellious child, acting up and causing trouble for no good reason.” Mother frowns at Dasha, the lines on her face pronounced from years of doing it. “Do you understand what that makes our family look like? What are your father and I supposed to _do_ with you, Dasha?”

“Nothing,” Dasha grits out. She’s done with this conversation. As she turns to go to her room, she calls out. “Nothing is what you guys excel in, when it comes to me!”

Dasha lets Winona into her room before shutting the door and locking it. She crouches down to cuddle Winona up into her arms, settling onto her bed as she hugs the only creature in her family who actually gives a damn about her. 

“You believe me, right?” Dasha says.

Winona licks her nose. 

“He was a student,” Dasha starts stroking Winona’s head, leaning deeper into her pillows. “He was just a kid.”

Dasha sets Winona down next to her, and Winona sits, looking at her curiously. 

“Who would kill a kid, Winona?” She says. “We’re just dumbasses.”

Winona cocks her head. 

Dasha sighs, throwing an arm over her face. “God knows the cops aren’t going to figure anything out about this, they’re useless.”

Dasha’s thoughts rewind back without any warning. Images of an unmoving body. Of a grizzly wound in the kid’s guts. Of a horrible pool of blood. She suppresses a shudder, but then her thoughts bounce to something else. Her mind thinks about the very possible probability that that kid will never get solved. That whoever did this is going to get away with this and disappear into the countless shadows Night City casts.

She removes her arm from her face. “I want to know what happened to him.”

Winona whines, nosing at Dasha’s face. 

“Don’t worry, I’ll be okay. I always am,” Dasha says. Winona whines again, and she gets it. “You’re right, I’m just one person. I’m going to need help.”

But who would help her? Dasha is the school outcast, the resident bad girl that people are afraid of because she gives everybody death glares and smokes at the back of the school. She doesn’t have friends. She doesn’t _do_ friends.

Not friends. 

Huh.

She sits up, thinking about Burger Chainz who can take anybody down in a few hits. She thinks about Vang0 Bang0 who always stands his ground. She thinks about the three of them, with their respective skills, cracking this mystery open.

Dasha doesn’t like a lot of things.

But most of all, she doesn’t like people who see something and do nothing about it.

She isn’t going to be one of them.

-

The next day at school is odder than usual, which is saying something at NCHS. People always give her a wide berth when she walks around, but today, murmurs and whispers and stolen glances follow her around. Seems news has gotten around that she found the body. She wonders how Burger and Vang0 are dealing.

When morning classes finish and lunch break starts, she sets out to find the both of them. Vang0 is easy, he always eats lunch out front in the parking lot. She finds him eating a sandwich while sitting on the asphalt, leaning on the wall, chewing dejectedly.

“You,” Dasha says.

Vang0 whips his head up. “Me?”

“Up. With me.”

“Yes, totally,” Vang0 nods, shoving the rest of his sandwich into his mouth and chewing as he walks to follow Dasha. 

She finds Burger where he was yesterday, having a conversation with a singular pigeon near the bleachers again. He’s throwing the pigeon sunflower seeds when she and Vang0 stop in front of him. The pigeon stops eating, head darting to look at all three of them.

“We have to talk,” Dasha says to Burger, mid sunflower seed throw. “Just the three of us.”

“Oh, okay,” Burger says. He turns to the pigeon. “You can go, Peter, I’ll be here again tomorrow, same time.”

The pigeon, inexplicably, seems to understand this and flaps away with difficulty. It’s looking a bit...chunky.

Not important right now. 

They all sit down on the bench, Burger and Vang0 looking at her expectantly.

She says, “I have a proposition for the both of you.”

“Yes,” Vang0 says immediately.

“I didn’t even say it yet.” Dasha says. She doesn’t know if this conversation is going to be easier or harder than she expected, with that opening. 

“Whatever it is, yes, if it’s you calling the shots, it must be cool,” Vang0 shrugs.

“It won’t be _cool_ it’ll be—”

“Hot?” Burger says, then he ‘hehe’s quietly at his own joke. 

“Okay, let me start over.” Dasha pinches the bridge of her nose for a moment. “How are you guys doing? We all saw a dead body yesterday, how’re you feeling? ”

That shifts the mood. Vang0 starts chewing at his lip and Burger looks down at his lap.

“Not feeling too good, if I’m bein’ honest,” Burger says. “Had nightmares about it.”

“Me too,” Vang0 says quietly.

_Me three_ , Dasha doesn’t say. They don’t need to know that. 

What they need is somebody who can keep it together.

“Does your proposition have something to do with that?” Burger asks. “With Tonez?”

“You knew him?” Dasha says.

“He was my classmate in History.” Burger tells her. “He was kind of a jerk but not—Not somebody who deserved to die.”

Dasha nods solemnly. “I want to know who killed him. I want to figure out what happened.”

“Isn’t that for the police to do?” Vang0 raises an eyebrow.

She rolls her eyes. “When have the police ever done anything good in the entire history of ever?”

“Fair point,” Vang0 concedes. “So...what? What’s your proposition?”

“I told you guys that you can be useful to me,” Dasha tells them. “And now I’m cashing that in. I want all three of us to investigate this murder.”

Burger and Vang0 stare at her silently. 

It’s Vang0 who breaks the silence with a simple “Why?”

“I have my own motivations, but I think solving this murder will be beneficial to you guys as well.”

Vang0’s eyes narrow. “In what way?”

“Well, Vang0, people will stop calling you Braces Barker, for one.” Dasha says, not above selling it a little to get what she wants. “Think about it. Nerd underdog solves murder mystery. People will finally respect you.”

Vang0 is quiet, thinking it over. She turns to Burger.

“Same thing for you, Burger. People will stop calling you the stupid farmboy and—”

“I don’t care about that,” Burger says, finally looking up. In his human eye, there is something shocking to see in Night City. It’s the look of honest, raw sadness. “I care about Tonez. He didn’t deserve to die.”

“Right,” Dasha nods, shifting persuasion gears. “If we solve this, if we find out who did this to Tonez, the killer will be brought to justice. Tonez won’t be an unsolved case. Look,” Dasha stands, looking at both of them. “You guys don’t have to say yes, I won’t blackmail you into this. I get it, this could be dangerous. We could get into trouble. But—” Images of the body flash through her mind again. The sick smell of iron. The pool of blood. “—I for one can’t let a bunch of shitbag adults handle this when I know they’ll just sweep it under the rug.”

Burger and Vang0 are looking at Dasha. Burger has a determined set to his metal jaw, and Vang0, for the first time since she’s saw him, doesn’t look nervous. 

“So,” Dasha says. “What do you guys say?”

There’s a pause.

Then Vang0 stands, nodding once. “I’m in.”

Burger stands as well, smiling. “Me too.”

Dasha feels her lips quirk into something that might just be a smile one day. 

“Welcome to the team then, boys.”

“Ooh!” Burger’s smile widens. “Do we get a team name?”

What? “What? We don’t need a team name.”

“But it would be _so cool_.”

“It _would_ be cool.” Vang0 has his hand on his chin, nodding sagely. 

Right. Team or not, they’re all still dumbass teenagers.

“No team name.” She tells them sternly. “We’re just....a trio of investigating high schoolers.”

“No, no, that’s not catchy at all,” Burger shakes his head.

“What about the Not Friends?” Vang0 grins.

“Yes!” Burger says enthusiastically. “Just one word away from friends! I love it!”

“Oh my god,” Dasha says, mostly to herself.

“Hands in, hands in, we gotta do what sports teams do before a game,” Burger extends his hand in front of him, palm down. 

Vang0 hesitates a bit but puts his hand the same way over Burger’s.

Then both of them look at Dasha expectantly.

“You were the one who put the team together, Dapper Dasha,” Vang0 says slyly.

“Come onnnnnnnn,” Burger eggs her on.

“Ughhhhhhh, okay, okay, fine,” Dasha relents, setting her hand out above the Burger and Vang0’s 

“Alright, on the count of three,” Burger says, sounding much too pleased with himself. “One, two, three. LET’S GO TEAM ‘NOT FRIENDS’!”

He throws his hand up, sending her and Vang0s hands up as well. Burger whoops and Vang0 tries to hide his snicker behind his hand, but they’re both clearly having fun.

Dasha is—

She’s not _not_ having fun.

She doesn’t like a lot of things.

But maybe working with these two idiots won’t be something she’ll hate.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> im [actualbird](https://actualbird.tumblr.com) on tumblr!!! leave me a comment if you liked this chapter :Dc
> 
> burger pov in the next chapter! i wonder what our favorite himbo has been thinking about all this //thinking emoji


	3. it matters

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Freefall,” Dasha says, arms crossed.
> 
> “Y-yes?” Freefall cowers a bit. Dasha really has that effect on a lot of people.
> 
> “We have to talk to you.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> im on a roll with this fic, the updates just pour outta my noggin, fellas

Burger loves making friends. But other people, more often than not, do not love being friends with Burger.

Which Burger gets. Really. The Chainz family moved to Night City when Burger was 13, and by then, all the other kids at NCHS already had their own cliques. The thing about people who were born and raised in Night City is that they’re all a little bit slow, if not completely opposed, to trust. They’re all a bit wary when Burger’s default mode is always the extended hand of friendship.

He can’t help it. If there’s one thing he learned out on the farm—nursing weak chicks and scaring away a coyote or two—it’s that no matter what, kindness and bravery matter. 

Two days ago, kindness and bravery got him into detention and inadvertently got him to discover a dead body.

But today, kindness and bravery got him Dasha and Vang0. It got him the Not Friends.

Burger grins to himself as he thinks about it at dinner, feeling all warm and happy as he spears a potato with his fork and pops it into his mouth.

“Burger, darling, you’re looking a lot better today,” Ma says, smiling softly. Across the dining table, Burger can see that her eyes still have a tinge of worry to them. She was so concerned, when he came home two days ago, shaking and dazed. 

“Yeah, son, your Ma is right,” Pa says, voice gently booming, as it always does. “Was school good today?”

“It sure was!” Burger says, beaming. “I made friends today. We’re the Not Friends.”

The twins, Soda Chainz and Fries Chainz, who were quietly squabbling with each other prior, suddenly turn to Burger in unison. 

“You made friends that aren’t your friends?” Soda says, tilting her head.

“What does that even mean?” Fries says, tilting her head at the exact same angle.

They’re so creepy, Burger loves them so much. 

“We’re totally friends,” Burger explains. “Our team name is just the Not Friends. It’s, y’know. That word you two like saying so much. Bionic?”

“Ironic,” Soda and Fries say together.

“Yeah, it’s that!” 

“Oh, honey, I’m so glad you made friends,” Ma says, her hand on her chest. “You should ask them over for dinner some time. Lord knows Night City kids need more meat on their bones.”

“That sounds nice, I’ll keep it in mind,” Burger says, spending the rest of the meal silently fantasizing about him and Dasha and Vang0 having fun together.

After dinner, Burger goes up to his room and checks his agent. Just like Dasha said she would, she’s added them all to a group chat on Discord.

**→ d.dasha added vang0bang0 to the group.**  
**→ d.dasha added BurgerChainz to the group.**

**d.dasha** Today at 7:39pm  
Okay. Hello, everybody. Here is where we can hash out plans and stuff.

 **vang0bang0** Today at 7:39pm  
cooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooool

 **BurgerChainz** Today at 7:40pm  
Hey, guys! :-D

**BurgerChainz changed the channel name: Not Friends**

**vang0bang0** Today at 7:40pm  
eyyyyyyyyyy

 **BurgerChainz** Today at 7:40pm  
Eyyyyy!

 **d.dasha** Today at 7:41pm  
_Loud sigh._  
Boys, let’s focus.

 **vang0bang0** Today at 7:41pm  
ok ok

 **BurgerChainz** Today at 7:41pm  
Aye, aye, Captain!

 **d.dasha** Today at 7:42pm  
I think our first order of business should be questioning people who were close to Tonez. They might have information on him that’ll give us a better trajectory for our investigation. We have to find out who Tonez’ peers are.

 **vang0bang0** Today at 7:42pm  
oh i can totes figure that out by just stalking his social media  
rip tonez

 **d.dasha** Today at 7:42pm  
That would be great, thanks.

 **BurgerChainz** Today at 7:42pm  
Oh!  
[Raises my hand.]

 **d.dasha** Today at 7:43pm  
Wh  
You don’t have to raise your hand.  
What is it?

 **BurgerChainz** Today at 7:43pm  
I know Tonez’ girlfriend!

 **d.dasha** Today at 7:43pm  
You do?

 **BurgerChainz** Today at 7:43pm  
Yeah! Freefall!

 **vang0bang0** Today at 7:44pm  
this girl?  
screenshot.jpg  
amy ferrara?

 **BurgerChainz** Today at 7:44pm  
Yeah, she goes by Freefall. We were partners in Chem Lab last year. She’s really sweet, she only called me stupid three times. She likes knitting and takes her coffee with two sugars. 

**d.dasha** Today at 7:44pm  
Huh.  
Okay, new plan. Tomorrow we talk to Freefall after school.

 **vang0bang0** Today at 7:44pm  
👍👍👍  
is this meeting adjourned yet  
i stream at 8pm gtg soon

 **d.dasha** Today at 7:45pm  
Yeah, we’re done for tonight. See you guys tomorrow.

 **vang0bang0** Today at 7:45pm  
kk

 **BurgerChainz** Today at 7:45pm  
Have a nice night, everybody!

-

Burger loves making friends, and he tried to be friends with Freefall when he met her. It didn’t really work out, because he was really bad at Chem Lab and she got stressed really easily, but he does have some fond memories of bunsen burners and microscopes. 

Freefall, when she walks out into the school parking lot, is both like how Burger remembers her and not. She’s still in a dark grey sweater and ripped black jeans, but the artfully smudged eyeliner around her eyes is less artfully smudged and more “I’ve been crying all day on and off” smudged.

Burger, Dasha, and Vang0 are in the school parking lot, leaning against Burger’s van, and when Freefall tries to walk past them, Dasha stands in front of her.

“Freefall,” Dasha says, arms crossed.

“Y-yes?” Freefall cowers a bit. Dasha really has that effect on a lot of people.

“We have to talk to you.”

“Am I in trouble?”

“You’re not in trouble, we just have a few questions for you,” Burger pipes in helpfully.

“Oh, Burger! Hi!” Freefall relaxes a bit when she sees him. She darts her eyes back to Dasha then to Vang0 then back to Burger. “Are you guys all...friends, or something?”

“Not Friends,” Burger nods.

Freefall’s eyebrows scrunch up, confused.

“We’re basically friends, that’s just what we call ourselves,” Vang0 tells her.

“Oh-kaaaaaay?”

“That. Isn’t important,” Dasha says, sounding pained. “I wanted to ask you about Tonez.”

Freefall goes back to cowering under Dasha’s gaze. “I—I already talked to the police about him.”

“We’re conducting an independent investigation,” Dasha smiles. Burger doesn’t know if Dasha means for that smile to be reassuring, because it’s failing. It looks terrifying.

“You’re _really_ scary.”

“Alright, let me handle this,” Vang0 says to Freefall and Dasha. “Dasha, you’re too intimidating. Nobody’s ever been intimidated by me in my entire life.” Dasha rolls her eyes but gestures for Vang0 to continue. Vang0 turns to Freefall, his voice no nonsense but about as scary as a spoon, and says, “Freefall, was Tonez acting weird, on the day he was killed? Do you know anybody who would want to, I dunno, kill him?”

Then Freefall bursts into tears.

“Oh, shit,” Vang0 puts his hands up. “Oh, fuck, uh—”

“Jesus Christ, Vang0,” Dasha looks vaguely panicked.

Freefall cries harder and Burger’s heart breaks.

“Hey,” Burger says to Freefall gently. “It’s okay, you’re okay. Can I touch you?” Freefall haltingly nods and Burger starts stroking her back slowly. “Here, why don’t we sit down for a little while, yeah?” Burger coaxes her down with him to sit on the asphalt of the parking lot. He looks up for a moment to see Vang0 and Dasha hovering in front of them. Politely, he shoos them away and they scuttle to the other side of the van. “Breathe in and out, Freefall. Slowly. We don’t want ya breathin’ too fast.”

“God, fuck, I’m so sorry, I’m such a mess, I’m—”

“Don’t apologize, you aren’t doing anything wrong,” Burger says, handing her a handkerchief, which she takes. “Just let it out, it’s okay.”

“Thanks.” Freefall wipes her tears, hiccuping a little. “I just—I don’t know who would kill Tonez. Who would do that? He’s gone, now, he’s fucking gone and—” She breathes in raggedly.

“I’m sorry,” Burger feels his chest tighten sadly. “I’m so sorry for your loss.”

“Don’t get me wrong, he was an asshole.” Freefall sniffles. “He wasn’t exactly a stellar boyfriend either, but he wasn’t—he wasn’t _bad_. He was good to me, when it mattered. He really was.”

Burger nods. “How are you holding up, with it all?”

“Not great, Burger Chainz.” Freefall barks out a wet sounding laugh. She folds her knees against her chest. “The cops weren’t very nice to me. They kept asking me if I hated him. As if they thought that _I_ would do this.” 

“That sucks,” Burger frowns. “You’re way too nice to be a murderer.”

“You’re the first person who’s ever told me I’m nice, y’know that?” Freefall quirks a small smile.

“It’s true,” Burger tells her. “You stopped calling me ‘stupid’ after I asked you to.”

“Your standards are way too low,” She pauses for a moment. “Are your friends pissed with me?”

“I’ll talk to them about it, don’t worry,” Burger says. “We shouldn’t have surprised you like that.”

“I don’t mind, I just wasn’t expecting it.” Freefall says. “I thought it was over. The cops never solve anything, so I thought it was done. But you guys are trying to actually figure things out? It’s cool, it just also—brought me back to not so good thoughts.”

“Sorry about that.”

“It’s fine, I just. I don’t know anything useful. But—” Freefall starts picking at her nails. Her black nail polish is chipped. “But—the day before he, y’know. Tonez was really...nervous. Jumpy. He didn’t tell me anything about it, but when he came to see me after club time, he seemed really...scared.”

“Scared?” Burger says. “How so?”

“He kept looking over his shoulder,” Freefall looks up at Burger, gaze a little bit determined. “I didn’t tell the cops this, because I knew they wouldn’t take me seriously, but I feel like he knew something. I feel like he knew somebody was after him.” Freefall’s gaze goes a little faraway. “I should’ve pushed him about it, I could’ve helped him, I—”

“Hey, hey, no. There’s no use thinking like that. You did everything you could with what you knew.” Burger lays a hand on her shoulder. “Thank you for telling me that.”

Freefall hands Burger his handkerchief back. “Thank _you_.”

Burger tilts his head. “For what?”

“For being kind to me,” she says. 

Burger smiles, feeling the tightness in his chest loosen a bit. You’re welcome, Freefall.”

It matters. It always matters.

-

The next day at lunch, Burger is out behind the school again, sitting under the bleachers. He’s got a Capri Sun and a small ziplock bag of sunflower seeds. Peter flaps down from his perch on the roof right on schedule.

“Hey, Peter,” Burger greets him with a sunflower seed. “How are you doing?”

Peter bobs his head up and down silently, running for the thrown seed.

“I’m doing great,” Burger sighs contentedly, watching Peter eat. “I’m waiting for my friends, Dasha and Vang0.”

Peter finishes his seed and makes _croo croo croo_ noises at Burger expectantly. Burger dutifully throws him another one.

“Maybe I should feed you less,” Burger hums, looking at Peter’s bodacious stature. “You’re starting to look a little big.”

“You do know—” Vang0 says as he walks up to Burger. He walks around where Peter is feasting and takes a seat on the grass next to Burger. “—that it can’t understand you, right?”

“Oh, I know,” Burger says, looking away from Peter to smile at Vang0. “But that’s the beauty of talking to animals. They don’t have to understand you, they can just get you.”

“That,” Vang0 blinks. “Makes no sense at all.”

Burger laughs. “Not everything has to.”

Vang0 stares at Burger with an odd look on his face that Burger can’t read before he flushes and looks away.

“I—Uh—You—” Vang0 stutters. “You did a really good job, yesterday. With Freefall.”

“It was no problem.”

“You’re good at the whole—” Vang0 gestures at Burger’s entirety. “—’being nice’ thing. It’s weird.”

Burger raises an eyebrow, amused. “Good weird or bad weird.”

“Good weird,” Vang0 says, face flushed again. Burger idly wonders what that’s all about. It’s not too hot, is it? “I dunno, nice isn’t something you see around here much. You’re something of an anomaly.”

“Thanks,” Burger says, looking at Vang0 intently. Vang0 is chewing his lip, looking away pointedly. “You have something you want to say, don’t you?”

“What?” Vang0 raises his hackles a bit. It’s cute, he’s like a spooked cat. “How do you know?”

“You’ve got this face that just says it, y’know?” Burger says, not really knowing how to explain it. “It’s a gut feeling I get, with people.”

“You’re way too perceptive,” Vang0 murmurs, but then he takes a deep breath and looks at Burger. “But yeah. I do have something I want to ask.”

“Shoot.”

“Why did you help me?” Vang0 says, looking an odd mix of confused and bewildered and something a little more soft, a little more raw, that Burger can’t seem to identify. “Back when Rock was giving me a hard time? Why did you come to my rescue?”

“Well,” Burger leans back against the bleachers support beam. “I have this, I guess y’could call it a philosophy, that kindness and bravery really, really matter. And the thing about being kind is that I know when people aren’t. The thing about being brave is that I need to step up when I see those people pickin’ on others. When I saw you, I knew I had to do something about it. Because it matters. Because it all matters. Because you matter.” Vang0 is looking at Burger, that soft raw something in his gaze. Burger laughs softly. “That must sound stupid, huh?”

“No, it—It sounds—” Vang0’s words catch in his throat again, and he coughs, trying to look a little bit more composed. It’s like pulling the blinds closed, that softness is gone, hidden under Vang0’s more usual nervous yet “gives no shits” attitude. He says. “It’s cool. It sounds really cool.”

Burger smiles. He’s been doing that a lot more lately. “Y’really think so?”

“Yeah,” Vang0 says, looking away. “I do.”

They sit in a comfortable silence after that. Their silence is punctuated by Peter’s soft coos and the occasional sunflower seed throw. A few minutes later, Dasha arrives.

“Hi, Dasha!” Burger waves.

“‘Sup, fearless leader,” Vang0 mock salutes.

“Burger. Vang0.” Dasha nods at the both of them, taking a seat on the grass with them. She darts her gaze to Peter. “Uh.”

“You should probably go, Peter,” Burger tells the pigeon.

Peter croos sadly and flaps away with immense difficulty.

“How do you do tha—” Dasha starts before shaking her head. “Nevermind. I was thinking about what Freefall said yesterday.”

“Which part?” Vang0 asks. 

“She said that Tonez was acting weird after club time specifically,” Dasha says. “Tonez was part of the Software Dev Club. I was thinking we could check out their room after school when everybody is gone, see if we can find any clues.”

“They lock the club rooms after 3pm though,” Burger says.

Dasha shrugs. “I can steal the key, it’ll be easy.”

“You don’t have to do that,” Vang0 cuts in. Burger and Dasha look at him. “I, uh. I know how to pick locks. I have a kit with me in my locker.”

“What?” Dasha says, disbelief in her voice. “Why do you bring a lock picking kit with you to school?”

“Not important.”

“You can pick locks?” Burger gasps. “That is _so_ cool.”

Vang0 blushes again, running his hand through his hair.

“Okay, putting aside Vang0’s probable dark past for the moment.” Dasha says. “You guys game for some breaking and entering?”

“I’m so down,” Vang0 nods.

Burger smiles. “As long as I’m with you two, I’m good with anything.”

Dasha and Vang0 start talking about B&E logistics and Burger lets them take control of the conversation. He just leans back, listens to the voices of his friends, and gets used to the warm feeling in his chest. 

Burger loves making friends. 

And he’s starting to love these two friends in particular.

He hopes that, once this whole murder business is over, they can all have a great time together like the kids they’re meant to be.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> im [actualbird](https://actualbird.tumblr.com) on tumblr!!! tell me what you liked about this chapter in the comments!!!
> 
> chapters from now on will be a bit longer!!! im really excited to show you guys what i have planned hehe >:3c
> 
> EDIT 7/10/2020: [i made fanart of crushing vang0 and clueless burger look at it here](https://actualbird.tumblr.com/post/623212591563603968/the-next-day-at-lunch-burger-is-out-behind-the)


	4. rumors and facades

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Did he and his friends just get framed for murder? For _internet clout?_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i am so huge largely fixated on this fic, you guys have NO IDEA. FUCK IT, NEW CHAPTER!!!

Vang0, when he’s working on something, dedicates his entire brain into doing just that one thing really, really well. So when he’s picking the lock of the Software Dev Club room, he really wishes Dasha and Burger would shut up a little bit, because it’s super harshing his vibes.

“I hope nobody catches us,” Burger says serenely.

“Nobody’s going to catch us,” Dasha says.

“Oh, Murpho’s Law. Now that you said it, it’s totally going to happen.”

“First off, no it won’t. Second off, I’m 99% sure that’s not what that law is called.”

“So you have 1% trust in me?”

“Going down by the second.”

“Guys,” Vang0 hisses. “Can you can it for like a minute? Trying to concentrate here.”

“Why _do_ you know how to pick locks?” Dasha says, completely ignoring Vang0’s request.

Vang0 hums, too focused on feeling for the tumblers of the lock to stop himself from saying “I thought it’d be a cool skill to to impress cute boys with.”

A pause.

Vang0 feels his entire face go red. “Did I just say that out loud?”

“You sure did,” Dasha says, smirking.

“Ohhhhh my god, leave me here to die.”

“Well, does it work?” Burger asks earnestly. “Did you ever get to impress any cute boys with it?”

_You tell me, Burger “cute boy” Chainz._

Vang0, blessedly, gets the door unlocked at that exact moment. “We’re in.”

The Software Dev Club room is dark, and it stays that way as they go in, shutting and locking the door behind them. The only light streams in through the blinds on the windows, revealing a room that’s a mess of wires, CPUs, and desktop computers. Dasha leads the Not Friends, walking around slowly until they find what is most likely Tonez’ computer. It’s pretty obvious it’s his, what with the pseudo shrine adornments all around the monitor. There’s a few flowers, a taped sign that says “Rest In Peace Tonez Walker, We Hope You’re Being An Asshole To The Angels In Heaven!”, and, ridiculously, a Robbie the RoboDog plush with a note that says “Get well soon!”

Vang0 picks up the plush. “Who’s gonna break it to whoever gave this that Tonez isn’t getting better?” 

“It’s the thought that counts,” Burger plucks the plush out of Vang0’s hand and places it back where it was.

“Vang0,” Dasha says. “Do you think you could check his computer for anything suspicious? Burger and I will look around for clues.”

“Sure,” Vang0 plops himself in the chair, switching on the computer.

As Dasha and Burger start sleuthing around the room at large, the monitor of Tonez’ computer flashes to life and reveals literally _the most unorganized shitzone of a desktop._

“Holy shit, Tonez,” Vang0 winces, looking at just probably a billion icons piled haphazardly over each other. “Rest in peace, but what the fuck?”

Vang0 switches on his optic monitor to better see through the mess and something catches his eye. Among the many, many files named like “lajfhkjkfja.exe” and “ajfhkajhfas.exe” there’s only one code script named with actual words. A program named “FacadePlus.exe”

Vang0 opens it and finds a long, long code. He can't tell what it does at a moment's glance, but what interests him is the date the code was last opened.

It was last opened the day before Tonez was killed.

The day Freefall said Tonez was scared.

“Guys, I think I found something,” Vang0 calls over to Dasha and Burger. They come back to him and look over his shoulders as he explains. “Tonez looked over this program the day before he died.”

“What’s the program?” Burger asks.

“I don’t know,” Vang0 says. “It’ll take me maybe a day or two to go through the code and figure out its function.”

“Can you make a copy of the program and take it home?” Dasha asks.

“Yeah, totally,” Vang0 nods, making a copy and bluetoothing it to his optic monitor. His optic monitor flashes to life in front of his eye, showing a loading bar. 10% Uploaded. “Cool, it’s uploading, it’ll just take a minute or two.”

“Nice work, Vang0,” Burger pats his head, making Vang0 feel all warm again. “Now all we have to do is make sure nothing bad happens in the next minute.”

Dasha sighs. “Nothing bad will happen in the next minute.”

Then the knob of the door starts to wiggle. 

Somebody is trying to get in.

“I told you something would go wrong!” Burger says _way too loud_ and Dasha scrambles to cover his mouth.

“Shhhhhh!”

“Hey!” The somebody outside says, jangling the doorknob more violently. “Club time is over, nobody should be in this room!”

“Vang0, how long until the program is done?” Dasha hisses.

“43% Uploaded,” Vang0 says, panicked.

“ _Hurry_.”

“ _I can’t make technology be faster._ ”

“Who’s in there!” The person outside yells.

“Should I answer?” Burger asks.

“Do _not_ answer.” Dasha says.

Burger nods. “I’m gonna answer.”

“BURGER—”

“WE’RE JUST A COUPLE OF NOT FRIENDS. JUST LOOKING AROUND.”

“Who are you!” The person outside yells.

“ _Do not answer, Burger_ ,” Dasha says, sounding like this conversation is actively shaving years off of her lifespan. 

“But he’s asking,” Burger looks at Dasha then at the door then at Dasha again, looking very nervous.

“Just _lie_ then,” Dasha tells Burger.

“Gotcha,” Burger nods, determined, and turns to the door to yell. “I’M NOT BURGER CHAINZ.”

“Oh my god,” Dasha thunks her head onto Vang0’s shoulder. “ _Is it done loading, yet?_ ”

“ _98% Uploaded_ ,” Vang0 says, feeling his blood pressure in a way he’s never felt before.

“I’m coming in!” The person outside says. Vang0 can hear the jingle of keys. “You kids stop whatever you’re doing right now.”

“We’re just—” Burger calls out. “—just three friends doing normal friend stuff together in a dark room, all together!”

“I am begging you to stop saying things,” Dasha says.

“100% Uploaded,” Vang0 breathes out, pushing away from the computer and switching off the monitor. 

The door opens.

It’s the teacher from a few days ago, the one who gave them detention.

“You three,” he narrows his eyes.

“Us three!” Burger does jazz hands.

“Detention,” he says. “All of you. Now.”

-

The teacher introduces himself to all of them as they all walk to room 2-A4. He’s Mr. Hypo, he teaches English for the Freshman and Sophomore years, and today, he’s sitting in the room with them for the entire hour of detention because last time he left them unattended, they killed Robbie and also discovered a dead body.

Mr. Hypo sits at the desk in front of the classroom, staring all three of them down. Vang0, Dasha, and Burger are seated in the stupid circle again, looking at Robbie as it powers up like a man with gout. 

Robbie finally switches on with its haunting OwO. 

“GOOD AFTERNOON, STUDENTS,” Robbie says. “VEE BARKER,—”

Vang0 says, “Mr. Hypo, we can explain—”

“BURGER CHAINZ,—”

Burger says, “We were just doing friend stuff, sir—”

“DASHA EVANGELINE WOODROSE.”

Dasha says, “You have no idea what’s going on.”

“Robbie, pause,” Mr. Hypo says, and Robbie’s face flashes to a -_- while it waits to be activated again. Mr. Hypo looks at all three of them. “You three are going to sit here and have guided meditation as punishment for breaking a rule. That’s how high school works, kids.”

“Mr. Hypo—” Dasha starts, looking aggrieved, but Mr. Hypo raises a calm hand to stop her.

“I’m giving you detention because you did something wrong,” Mr. Hypo said. Then something in his gaze changes. It turns more sympathetic. More worried. “But I’m also giving you detention so I can give you kids a warning.”

“What?” All three of them say at once.

“Robbie, activate interference,” Mr. Hypo says. Robbie’s face screen flashes to a >O< and it begins to emit a soft buzzing sound. “If anybody’s listening in, they won’t be able to now.”

Dasha leans back in her seat slowly. “Who are you, Mr. Hypo?”

“Me?” Mr. Hypo sighs. “I’m just a normal English teacher. But I’m an English teacher who’s worried about the safety of all the students at this school, you three idiots included. I know what you three are doing. You’re trying to figure out what happened to Tonez.”

Burger says, “How did you know?”

Mr. Hypo raises an eyebrow. “You three aren’t exactly subtle.”

“We really, really aren’t,” Vang0 whispers to Burger and Burger shrugs with a “fair.”

“Are you trying to stop us?” Dasha asks, staring Mr. Hypo down fearlessly.

“Stand down, Woodrose, I won’t get in your way,” Mr. Hypo doesn’t look cowed but he doesn’t look impressed either. His expression changes back to worry though when he says, “I actually think what you kids are doing is really brave. That’s why I want to warn you.”

“What do you know?” Dasha says.

“Nothing, sadly,” Mr. Hypo says. “But something bad is happening, and you all should be careful. More careful than you’ve been thus far.”

Dasha squints. “What do you mean?”

“I mean—” Mr. Hypo looks tired. He looks like somebody who’s lived in Night City for a long time and has seen just how bad it gets here. He looks like somebody who wants that stop. He looks like somebody who’s wanted that for a long time. “—That you kids should be careful of who you trust. Watch each other’s back. And for the love of god, stay safe. One death was bad enough. I don't want three more.”

They all go silent, the weight of his words settling in their minds.

Vang0 wonders just what the fuck it is they’ve gotten themselves all into.

“Robbie, shut down interference.” Mr. Hypo says. Robbie flashes back to OwO. That OwO is going to haunt Vang0’s dreams. “Now that that’s done, we’re going back on what we’re here to do.”

“You’re seriously still giving us detention?” Vang0 says, well aware that he’s whining a bit. “I thought you were on our side?”

“I am on your side,” Mr. Hypo shrugs easily, leaning back into his chair. “But I am _also_ a teacher. And you three need to learn how to do things without getting into trouble.”

“You’re a little evil,” Dasha says appraisingly. “I like that.”

“I don’t,” Burger says, pouting.

Mr. Hypo quirks a smile, then cocks his head to Robbie. “Listen to Robbie now, kids. Robbie, resume.” Robbie stutters back into movement.

“I WILL BE LEADING YOU THROUGH A ONE HOUR GUIDED MEDITATIONS ON HOW TO NAVIGATE DIFFICULT EMOTIONS.” Robbie says. 

“Oh my _god_.” Vang0 says. 

Next to him, Burger thunks his head down on his desk. Dasha just takes out a piece of gum and starts chewing.

“LET’S GET MEDITATING, STUDENTS!” Robbie dabs. 

-

After the most excruciating hour of Vang0’s life, Dasha says they can regroup tomorrow at lunch time, so they all head home. Vang0’s apartment complex is just a ten minute walk away from NCHS, so he waves off Burger asking if he wants a ride. As much as he’d like to spend more time with Burger, Mr. Hypo’s words are heavy in his mind. He needs some time alone to think about it.

And think about it he does, the entire walk home. The implication that if they keep investigating, they won’t just get into trouble. They might just get killed as well.

When he finally gets to his apartment, shoving through the front door, he knows he must look like the special kind of shit that only comes with vaguely realizing one’s life may be on the line.

Mom is on the couch in the living room, watching the news on the clunky vidscreen they have. She looks up at him as he enters, and she smiles warmly. 

“Hey, Vang0,” she pats the space on the couch next to her.

“Hey, Mom,” Vang0 sits with a sigh, and after a second’s hesitation, he leans his head on his shoulder.

“You’re home late again,” Mom says, not unkindly. Her arm comes up to rub Vang0’s shoulder.

“I got detention again,” Vang0 says. It’s not a lie. It’s just not the whole truth. “I’m sorry, I don’t mean to—”

“It’s alright, honey. I’m just—” Her tone changes, and it’s a tone Vang0 recognizes immediately. Worry. It makes his heart clench and tears prick at his eyes. Mom squeezes his shoulder, and it takes all of his strength not to cry. “I’m _worried_ about you, Vang0. Ever since you found that poor student, you’ve been acting a little...you’ve been coming home late, and you seem so nervous, and now, you come home, and you look like somebody told you something horrible.”

“I’m alright,” Vang0 says, hoping that his voice doesn’t waver. “I promise.”

“You would tell me,” Mom looks at him, and her eyes are so kind. Kinder than what Vang0 deserves. “If something was happening at school, right?”

“I—” Vang0 thinks about all the bullying, over the years. He thinks about all the days he came home with bruises that he hid under his jacket. He thinks about the mysterious program he has in his optic monitor and how it somehow led to somebody’s death. He thinks about every single thing he’s hid from Mom because she’s the best Mom ever and she doesn’t deserve to worry about the rude amnesiac orphan she adopted four years ago. Vang0 isn’t an easy kid to raise. He tries to make it easier. So he lies. “Of course.”

“Alright,” She pats his shoulder. “You get some rest. I’ll call you when dinner is ready.”

“Thanks, Mom,” Vang0 stands to leave for his room. But he stops. Turns back to Mom. “Mom?”

“Hm?” Mom looks up.

“I love you,” he says.

Mom smiles, “I love you too, Vang0.”

Vang0 goes to his room. He shuts the door and leans against it, taking deep breaths. Night City is weird, he thinks, as a few tears start to roll down his face. Around here, he can take years of people being horrible to him, but the moment he feels loved, that’s when he starts to break.

Vang0 sighs. Being a kid, he figures, is probably the most confusing thing there is.

-

That night, Vang0 looks through FacadePlus.exe until 11pm and falls asleep at his desk. When he wakes up and gets dressed for school, he thinks that he maybe needs one more day of looking through the code to figure out what it does. Mom has early shifts at the hospital she works at, so Vang0 makes breakfast himself, sits down to eat while thinking idly about the code, then heads out.

When he gets to school, he is instantly aware something is wrong.

He hasn’t even stepped foot on campus and another walking student shoves past him violently, sending him sprawling to the ground. When Vang0 looks up, instead of the usual grin those assholes give him, the guy is looking down at him with a sneer.

“I hope the cops get you,” The guy says.

“What?” Vang0 says, but of course the guy doesn’t answer.

As he walks through the parking lot, he’s met with more bad glares. It gets worse once he’s actually in the school, and people start whispering as he passes by.

He gets to his locker and feels his gut go cold.

His locker is vandalized in permanent marker, with a lot of mean things, but the biggest word emblazoned over all of them says “MURDERER.”

Vang0 runs to the closest bathroom, shutting himself in a stall. He switches on his optic monitor and checks Twitter and it takes no time at all for him to find out that the most popular girl at school, Emmanuela “M-UA” Yong, posted a Tweet thread last night. “Tonez Murder Theory 👀💅 (a thread)” the first Tweet said.

Vang0 reads through the thread and goes more and more pale. When he gets to the end, he switches off his optic monitor and thunks his head against the door of the bathroom stall.

“Fuck,” he says. 

M-UA just posted for the world to see her theory that he, Dasha, and Burger killed Tonez Walker.

The Tweet has 500 retweets and 1k likes.

Everybody at school must have seen this, and because they’re stupid, they believe it.

Did he and his friends just get framed for murder? For _internet clout?_

Vang0 gets through his morning classes, trying to ignore all the glares and whispers. When it’s lunch break, he all but bolts to their usual spot under the bleachers, dodging anybody who might try to give him a hard time. He gets there, and Dasha and Burger are already seated on the grass, both throwing sunflower seeds at the chunky fucking pigeon.

“Guys,” Vang0 says, out of breath. “We have a problem.”

“Yeah, we noticed,” Dasha deadpans, holding up her messenger bag that has a piece of paper taped to it that says “MURDER BITCH.” Burger turns and shows Vang0 the piece of paper taped to the back of his plaid shirt that says “KILLER HICK.” 

“This is bullshit!” Vang0 snatches both pieces of paper, crumpling them up and shoving them into his pocket. “How do we fix this? We can’t exactly keep investigating if people think we did it. We’ll look even more suspicious and people won’t talk to us.”

“Why don’t we just ask M-UA to take down the thread?” Burger says.

“The most popular girl at school listening to a bunch of nobodies like us?” Vang0 sits down with a sigh. “Tonez might as well come back to life, if that’s possible.”

“There’s something else,” Dasha says, and Burger and Vang0 turn to look at her. She takes something out of her pocket. A note. She hands it to Vang0. “That was slipped into my locker this morning, among other things.”

Vang0 opens the note and Burger reads it out loud over his shoulder. “ ‘I know you didn’t do it. Meet me at Zero and One’s Cafe at 5pm if you want to know more. -D5B’ Who’s D5B?”

“I don’t know,” Dasha admits, taking the note back. “But I think we should check this out.”

“Hey, wait up,” Vang0 feels the prickle of anxiety under his skin. “Remember what Mr. Hypo said? We have to be careful who we trust.”

“I know, but this is our only lead until you crack that program.” Dasha looks to Vang0. “How are you doing with it?”

“I need a few more days,” Vang0 says. “I’m used to breaking into things, not figuring them out.”

“Alright,” Dasha nods. “Then we have to do this. Any objections?”

“None,” Burger shrugs.

“None,” Vang0 says quietly.

“Alright then,” Dasha says. “After school, we’ll meet with whoever D5B is and get to the bottom of this.”

Dasha says it so easily. So bravely. Burger doesn’t seem to be all that bothered about the situation either. Vang0 wonders if, among the three of them, he’s the most scared.

He wonders if he’s the coward.

He wonders what Dasha and Burger will do when they realize Vang0 is nothing but a scared kid trying to keep it together.

-

Zero and One’s Cafe is a small indie coffeeshop a ten minute drive away from NCHS. When Burger finds a parking spot, they all get out of his van and enter the cafe. The ambiance inside is definitely… _something_. The place is trying to look like a 2000s Starbucks but it seems they didn’t have non neon lights to achieve this. The result is a cafe that’s trying to be vintage but is incongruently lit like a night club. 

It’s also, predictably, completely empty sans a bored looking goth behind the cash register and one single customer sitting in the corner of the cafe. A girl, looking down at her agent.

Dasha leads as they all approach her table. They stand in front of the table.

“D5B?” Dasha says, and the girl looks up and—

“C4A?” Vang0 recognizes her. How could he not? C4A, real name Candella Flores, is the second most popular girl at school, M-UA’s right hand woman.

“Ohhhhhh, I get it!” Burger says excitedly. “D5B is just one character up from C4A! Real clever!”

“Sit down, sit down,” she says. “You can just call me Candella. Nobody followed you, right?”

They all take a seat as Dasha says “We don’t think so.”

“Okay,” Candella sighs in relief. Despite this, she still looks nervous as fuck, eyes darting around the cafe, looking for anybody who might be listening in. Vang0 hazards a glance at the goth, and he looks like he’s falling asleep while standing. They’re in the clear, right now. “That’s good.”

“Candella,” Dasha leans forward, looking at Candella intently. “Tell us what you know.”

“Before that, I need to tell you why I’m doing this,” Candella tells them. “It’s not just out of the goodness of my heart, or whatever.” Her gaze suddenly goes steely. “It’s because I want M-UA to go down.”

“What?” Burger says, puzzled. “I thought she was your friend.”

“She’s a toxic bitch, that’s what!” Candella hisses. Then she curls up into herself. “She treats my girlfriend and I like shit and constantly causes drama between us just for the fun of it. I just want to be happy with Peaches…” Candella looks up, eyes burning with teenaged vitriol. “M-UA is a manipulative monster and I want to see her crash and _burn_.”

_Yikes_ , Vang0 thinks. He never wants to get into popular girl drama in his life ever.

“We’ll try our best to take M-UA down, but only if the information you tell us is worthwhile,” Dasha says diplomatically.

“Alright,” Candella nods, then she leans in, speaking softly. “That Twitter thread she posted? She didn’t just do it for clout. I heard that her _boyfriend_ asked her to do it.”

“Gio Harp?” Vang0 says. Everybody at the table looks at him. “What? I keep up with who’s big, these days.”

“Yeah, her boyfriend, Gio,” Candella says. “Gio asked her to do it, I’m sure of it. I overheard them talking about it at lunch, yesterday.”

“Why would this Gio fella want M-UA to do that?” Burger says. “I’ve never spoken to him.” 

“Me too,” Vang0 says.

“Me three,” Dasha says.

“I don’t know why he would do that, but I know that he did,” Candella says, looking a bit frazzled. “Is that enough? Will you take down M-UA?”

“We’ll try our best,” Dasha stands, and Vang0 and Burger stand too, because copying what Dasha does is cool “I assure you, your help won’t go unrewarded.”

“Thank you,” Candella says. Quieter, she says “I hope you guys figure out who killed Tonez.”

“We hope so too,” Vang0 says, feeling the prickle of anxiety grow louder and louder under his skin.

-

Dasha is quiet in the van. Vang0 figures that she’s thinking about what Candella told them and needs to process it first before making a plan. It’s a lot, what they’ve learned in two days. They’ve learned that they might be in danger. They’ve learned that other people are also out to get them. The only sound in the van is Burger’s Keanu Reeves GPS leading Burger through the streets and Carly Rae Jepsen’s music blasting on the radio when Keanu isn’t talking.

Burger drops Dasha off at her apartment building first, Dasha leaving with a “See you tomorrow, guys. Stay safe.”

Then Vang0 is alone with Burger in the van.

Despite the literal _murder plot_ happening in Vang0’s life currently, he can’t help the way his heart beats a little faster at the fact that he’s in the passenger seat of Burger’s van and Burger is driving him home.

[_”The city's so hard when you sleep alone, I need your hands when you drive me home, I can't stay away, away, away, away.”_](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5QwBNbSPfXY) Carly Rae Jepsen sings.

_Not now, Carly_ , Vang0 thinks as he feels himself blush, stealing glances at Burger the entire drive.

Miss Jepsen torments Vang0 the entire drive to his apartment complex. When Burger finally pulls up at the apartment complex’s entrance, Vang0 scrambles for the door, opens it and stumbles out. He needs _air_.

“Uh,” Vang0 turns to look at Burger. “Thanks for the ride.”

“It’s no problem,” Burger smiles his usual sunshine and rainbows smile. The smile softens though, and he says, “Don’t stay up too late trying to crack that program, okay? Get some rest.”

“Thanks,” Vang0 feels himself go warm at Burger’s words. At the fact that Burger _cares_. “You get some rest too.”

Burger flashes him one last smile before driving off, Carly Rae Jepsen’s voice getting quieter and quieter as he leaves.

Vang0 goes up to his apartment and sighs. He talks to Mom for a bit but he waves off having dinner. Right now, his mind is too much of a mess. He goes to his room, flops onto his bed, and thinks about everything he has to deal with. The whole school thinks he and his friends are murderers, another student he’s never interacted with is out for their blood for some reason, and to top it all off, he has a stupid no good lovey dovey crush on the kindest person in Night City, the one, the only, Burger Chainz.

Vang0 does what he always does, when he doesn’t want to think about the things in his life.

He gets to work.

He sits down at his computer and looks at the code, picking through it, trying to figure out what it does. By 9pm, he’s mostly gotten the impression that FacadePlus.exe is some kind of anti facial recognition program. If somebody uploads their facial information into the program, the program stops any other camera from being able to automatically identify you.

It’s pretty cool that Tonez was working on this. It’s a bit messy, but it looks like it works, and if he were alive, he totally could have fixed it up and it would have a lot of uses in privacy and security.

Vang0 is just about to exit the program when he notices something odd.

There, nestled in the code, is a little trail of...something.

A little trail of code that doesn’t look intentional. It looks like somebody else who wasn’t the programmer has been here, changed something, and then sloppily tried to cover their tracks.

Vang0 follows that trail and finds where it leads. Inside the caverns of FacadePlus.exe, there’s an entirely other program.

Vang0 isolates this new program and picks it apart, and by 11pm, he figures it out.

Vang0 pushes away from his desk. His breathing is shallow. On his screen, he can see his reflection, and his eyes are wide. Afraid.

Because he is.

Because this secret program is the reason why Tonez Walker died.

Because Tonez Walker figured out what it was doing.

And now—

Now Vang0 has figured it out too.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> im [actualbird](https://actualbird.tumblr.com) on tumblr!!! leave me a comment or tell me what you liked on my tumblr!!! im really proud of how this chapter came out, so i'd love to hear what you thought! :Dc
> 
> the song that was playing in the car was Felt This Way by Carly Rae Jepsen. vang0 knowing how to pick locks bc he thought it would impress cute boys is inspired by a tumblr post i cant find right now.
> 
> my upcoming weekend and monday is a bit busy, so no update for a few days, i need a lil writing break. but hey, i think ive left you guys at a good place, right? //dodges bricks thrown in my direction


	5. kids like them

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “We—” Burger claps his hands together. “—should have a sleepover!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hello all!!! i had a wonderful weekend and writing break and i hope you guys had a great weekend too. have an update!!! 
> 
> uh chapter content warning for like. bad parents.

It’s lunch and Dasha’s walking to their spot behind the school, under the bleachers, when she sees that Vang0 is already there, sitting on the grass. Upon walking closer, she sees that he’s hunched over with his face in his hands. Burger’s chunky pigeon friend is sitting atop Vang0’s head.

“Uh,” Dasha sits down next to him. “You’ve got a little something on your—”

“I know,” Vang0 says, voice muffled by his hands. “His ridiculously heavy weight for a pigeon helps me visualize just how badly I’ve fucked up.”

“What happened?” Dasha asks. She lets her voice turn a bit more teasing, “Did you mess up that program, or something, nerd?”

Vang0 looks up, jostling the pigeon off, and holy shit. Okay. This is no joking matter, Vang0 looks like shit. He looks like he hasn’t slept, looks jittery and _terrified_. “Can we wait for Burger? I really don’t want to have this conversation more than once.”

“Yeah, sure,” Dasha says.

The most uncomfortable silence in Dasha’s life follows, punctuated only by the pigeon’s food seeking croos. Vang0, this past week she’s known him, generally always exudes a vague aura of misery, but this is a whole new level. This is funeral march, puppy just got parvo, ice cream fell into the gutter, kind of miserable. She withstands it for seven more seconds before even she, somebody who doesn’t have the highest empathy in the world, can’t take it anymore.

“Is there, uh,” Dasha says haltingly. She’s not used to this, sue her. “Anything I can do to help? Do you want like...a hug or something?”

“Did saying that give you an ulcer?” Vang0 has a puzzled, slightly amused look on his face. “Because it sure looked like it did.” 

“Shut up,” Dasha punches him on the shoulder lightly. “I was trying to be nice.”

“I’d give that a score of a 6 out of 10. Great effort, but try not to look like you’re dying while doing it.” Vang0 snickers. Then he ducks his head a little. “Thanks though. I appreciate it.”

“No problem,” Dasha says.

A brief pause.

Vang0 says, “How do you—” Then he doesn't finish his sentence, as if the words escape him.

“How do I what?”

“How do you be so. Y’know,” Vang0 gestures at the general area of all of her. "Like how you are. Gets shit done, gives no fucks, badass all the time.” He hunches his shoulders a bit. “How are you so...fearless?”

“I’m not fearless,” Dasha says, keeping her voice level. “You just haven’t seen what really scares me, yet. What really gets to me.”

“No offense, but I never want to,” Vang0 murmurs. 

“It’s okay if you’re scared,” Dasha tells him. If her general knowledge is right, Vang0 is the youngest of them all, having skipped a few grades because of his intelligence. Sixteen and scared out of his mind.

“Let’s talk about something else.” Vang0 hugs his knees to his chest. “Please.”

“Okay,” Dasha nods. Distractions. She can roll with that. “When are you going to ask Burger out on a date?” 

“WHAT?” Vang0 whips his head up, face flushed. “What makes you think I want—I don’t—I’m—”

“Vang0, I do have eyes.”

“Oh my god,” Vang0 thunks his head onto his knees. “If you noticed my stupid crush, that means he would notice too.”

“Nah,” Dasha claps a hand onto his shoulder. “I don’t think Burger would notice the Kool Aid man busting through the school until it came over to him and asked to be friends.” 

“True,” Vang0 raises his head, looking a better kind of scared. A teenaged kind of scared. It suits him much better than the other kind. 

“You should ask him, when this whole case is over,” Dasha says.

“I can’t do that,” Vang0 sighs, looking wry and sad at the same time. “I’m not like you or Burger, not fearless or brave. I’m just—” Vang0 gestures at himself. “This.”

“Don’t beat yourself up too much.” Dasha bumps her shoulder against his. “I think this is pretty cool.”

“10 out of 10,” Vang0 says, a small smile on his face. “You’re a fast learner.”

Dasha rolls her eyes, and they both settle in a silence that’s a little better. Still tense around the edges, like a small flame is crackling nearby, but for now, it just feels warm.

Burger comes around a few minutes later, arms laden with juice boxes and vending machine powdered donuts which he gives to Dasha and Vang0. They eat first, Dasha firm on the belief that murder conversations shouldn’t happen when one is actively ingesting stuff. Whatever ease Dasha had been able to give Vang0 slowly melts away as he nervously sips at his juice box until it rattles empty, box completely crumpled in on itself.

“Vang0, are you okay?” Burger places a gentle hand on Vang0’s back, and it’s a testament to how bad this must be that Vang0 doesn’t even blush. In fact, he looks paler. 

“In all honesty, I’ve never been so far away from okay in my life,” Vang0 says, looking up at the both of them. “But you guys deserve to know this. I cracked the code last night.”

Dasha nods, then, softly, she asks, “What did you find out?”

“FacadePlus.exe is an anti facial recognition software that Tonez Walker was working on,” Vang0 explains to them. “It basically works like, you upload your face, then the program does a lot of complicated shit that stops any other camera or footage from automatically identifying you.”

“That sounds cool,” Burger says. “Why would working on that make him scared, though?”

“Probably because he found what I found,” Vang0 says, voice wavering a bit. “There was something in the code, guys. There was another program in there that wasn’t Tonez. I think Tonez found this program, figured out what it did, and was killed for it.”

Dasha keeps her voice calm and gentle. “What does the other program do, Vang0?”

“I can’t tell you!” Vang0 hisses, eyes a bit wild. “Tonez figured it out, and he was killed, and now I know too, so that means—that means—”

“We are _not_ letting anybody kill you,” Dasha says, voice steely, a protective surge blooming in her chest. “They’ll have to go through me.”

“And me,” Burger says, just as fiercely.

“Fuck,” Vang0 barks a wet sounding laugh. “ _Fuck._ ”

“Vang0,” Dasha looks at Vang0. “What was the other program doing?”

“I can’t put you guys in danger too,” Vang0 says.

“Well,” Burger says. “We can’t leave you alone, on this. We’re in this together, yeah?”

Vang0 chews on his lip, looking at the grass.

“Vang0,” Dasha says, preparing to say something she hasn’t done in a long, long time. She says, “Please.”

Vang0 takes a deep breath. Exhales slowly. He says, “The other program is a bug. As in, it steals data and sends it somewhere else. I couldn’t figure out where it was being sent, it was too heavily encrypted. The bug was stealing all the facial data FacadePlus ever got and will ever get in the future.” Vang0’s voice begins to waver. “Tonez found the bug and was killed for it.”

Dasha nods, and she leans back. She isn’t fearless, like she told Vang0, but this is one thing that does scare her. The possibility of other people getting hurt on her watch. Other people getting hurt because of her choices. 

She brought Vang0 and Burger into this.

She has to keep them safe.

“Right,” Dasha says, standing. “We can’t talk about the case here anymore. Text your parents, tell them you’re having a sleepover at my place. Meet me at the parking lot at 3:30pm.”

“Dasha,” Vang0 looks up at her.

“We are _not_ going to die,” Dasha says firmly. She doesn’t let her fear show, because Vang0 needs somebody to be strong, because Burger needs somebody to call the shots, because her team needs her to keep it together. “We are going to solve this case. We are going to find out who did this. We are going to _win_.”

Vang0 and Burger look at her like they believe her, when she says this. They nod, and Dasha turns around to leave. 

She’s never been one for litanies or prayers. Kids like them don’t get miracles.

Kids like them have to be the miracle themselves.

-

“Okay so I know that your family is rich, what with how you live uptown and all that,” Vang0 says later at 3:30pm in the empty parking lot as Geoffrey pulls up the limousine in front of them. “But uh, holy fuck?”

“Hotdog car...” Burger says, awe in his voice.

“I want to key this limo.”

“Long, long, looooong car...”

Dasha pinches the bridge of her nose. “Just get in, boys.”

They get in, the inside more than spacious enough for the three of them. The window of the divider goes down and Geoffrey turns to face them all. 

“Good afternoon, Miss Woodrose and company.”

“Miss Woodrose,” Vang0 grins..

“Hi, Geoffrey,” Dasha says, ignoring Vang0 completely. “This is Vang0 and this is Burger. They’re my groupmates for a project. Vang0, Burger, this is Geoffrey.”

“Hi mister Geoffrey,” Burger says politely. “I really like your sunglasses.”

“Thank you, Mister Burger.”

“Do you know that old 80s song, Sunglasses at Night by Corey Hart?”

“I don’t believe I do.”

“Oh, well it goes like, [ba bah buh buh buh buh buh buh, ba bah buh buh buh buh buh](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X2LTL8KgKv8), I wear my sunglasses at night, so I can, sooooo I caaaan watch you weave then breathe your story lines—” Burger then proceeds to sing the whole entire song. Complete with the guitar riffs. 

Dasha tries not to smile, and fails. The whole thing is so stupid, exacerbated even more by the fact that Vang0 watches the one man performance, completely enraptured, and she fails at looking like she isn’t having fun. Geoffrey glances at her in the rearview mirror, a small smile on his face.

Geoffrey pulls up at her apartment complex and the three of them all get out. Dasha leads Vang0 and Burger through the lobby, through the rude stares of the other occupants, and into a blessedly empty elevator.

“Fair warning,” Dasha says as she taps her keycard against the elevator controls and it starts to zoom up. “My mother might be home. She’s—well. Bad.”

“Bad as in cool or bad as in evil stepmother?” Burger asks.

“Have you ever watched that old show with Amy Adams?” Dasha answers with a question. “Sharp Objects?”

“Oh my god,” Vang0 winces. “I’m so sorry.”

Dasha leads them through the hall then unlocks the front door. As always, Winona runs to greet her. Burger all but squeals “PUPPY!” and she hears Vang0 softly say, “Aw fuck, I wasn’t emotionally prepared for cute dogs.”

“This is Winona,” Dasha crouches down and picks Winona up, giving her head a little kiss. “You can pet her, if you like, she’s really friendly.”

Winona’s head turns her head towards Burger and Vang0, a wonderfully canine smile on her face, tongue lolling out endearingly. Burger and Vang0 immediately start petting her.

“Dasha?” Mother calls out from the living room. “You’re home earlier than usual for once. Who’s that with you?”

“Brace yourselves,” Dasha passes Winona off to Burger. She then walks towards the living room, Burger and Vang0 following her.

“Mother,” Dasha says evenly. “This is Burger and Vang0. They’re my classmates and we’re all working on a school project. They’re sleeping over.”

Mother looks up from her holoscreen, and looks Burger and Vang0 up and down, unimpressed. “Really, Dasha? You couldn’t have found more...polished groupmates?”

“Aaaaand that’s my quota of your assholery,” Dasha says, the fierce protective feeling in her chest snarling and growling. She turns, gesturing for Burger and Vang0 to follow her. “We’re going to my room, don’t bother us!”

“Leave the door open!” Mother calls out.

“We’re not going to have an orgy, fuck you!” Dasha calls out back.

She pushes Burger and Vang0 into her room and slams her door closed. 

-

Dasha, Burger, Vang0 (and Winona), end up sitting on a circle on her bed to talk about their plans. 

After an hour of thinking, bouncing ideas around, and petting Winona to her heart’s delight, they all come to an agreement on their new plan. Given that whoever did this has enough experience with hacking and coding, they will no longer use their Discord groupchat to talk about the case. They will, instead, send decoy messages to each other giving the impression that they’ve hit a rut and are giving up on their investigation. If anybody’s got their communication channels bugged, this will hopefully get them off all of their backs.

They will only ever talk about the case in secure locations in person. Their new plan is this: narrow down suspects. They put together a list of people at school to tail and investigate, all people who would benefit from stealing facial data. This list includes a bunch of the more competitive kids in the Software Dev Club and a bunch of students who are kids of company bigwigs, Gio Harp, son of HarpCo. CEO included.

Mother eventually leaves the apartment at 6pm to do whatever socialite dinner shit she does these days, so Dasha orders pizza and brings it to her room. Once they’ve finished eating, they’ve finalized their suspect list, divided the morally ambiguous stalking they’re going to do next week, and subsequently finished talking about all the pertinent things they need to talk about.

Dasha leans back against her pillows. “Huh. Now what?”

“We—” Burger claps his hands together. “—should have a sleepover!”

Vang0 looks puzzled. “We already are?”

“No, the past 2 hours don’t count because we did murder work,” Burger shakes his head. “We should, y’know. Have a _real_ sleepover. Watch feel good movies, do each other’s nails, talk about normal stuff.”

“Is that what happens at sleepovers?” Dasha realizes she’s never had a ‘real’ one before in her entire life.

“Totally!” Burger grins. “Are you guys game?”

“We might die, so might as well do the teen bucket list.” Vang0 shrugs, trying to act cool but looking way too excited in the eyes for it to really be convincing. 

“Hell yeah!” Burger whoops, then he turns to Dasha expectantly. 

Dasha can only take three seconds of Burger’s puppy eye before she sighs fondly, and says, “What the hell, why not.”

And thus the most surreal night of Dasha’s life commences. She pulls out a futon from her closet and unrolls it up on the floor for Burger and Vang0. Burger messes with her holoscreen TV, setting up a queue of what seems to be cheesy 80s to 2000s romcoms and hits play. As Burger and Vang0 watch the opening scene of 10 Things I Hate About You, Dasha finds a bottle of unopened black nail polish on her desk.

“Oh, hell yes!” Burger says when she shows them.

“Don’t get your hopes up.” She tosses the bottle to Burger. “I never opened it because I never bothered to learn how to actually apply it.”

“I’ve got you guys,” Vang0 plucks the bottle out of Burger’s hand. “I can do nails.”

“Why do you know how to do nails?” Dasha tilts her head.

“Nobody ever notices,” Vang0 shows them his hand, and upon closer inspection, his nails are coated with clear glitter. “I’m working my way up to things that aren’t as low key. Goth black seems awesome.”

“Me first!” Burger scooches over reeeeeaaaal close to Vang0, offering his hand. Dasha smirks as Vang0 goes a bit red in the face as he touches Burger’s fingers.

So Vang0 does their nails. So they watch another movie. So they joke around about dumb stuff they did as kids and ridiculous high school stories from before they met each other. So for a few hours, they’re normal stupid kids having normal stupid fun. And Dasha—

The feeling in her chest that snarled and growled awhile ago curls up into a warm little ball, content for the first time in her life.

She realizes, vaguely, that she really truly likes these two idiots.

She realizes that they like her too.

She realizes that she has friends.

Around 11pm, Vang0 falls asleep, sprawled over one side of the futon, Winona also asleep and cuddled up to his chest. Burger is just about to call it a night as well but mentions being a little thirsty, and Dasha tells him to wait in her room while she goes out to the kitchen to grab a pitcher of water and some glasses.

She’s closing the fridge with her hip when she hears him.

“Dasha. We need to talk.”

Father is sitting on the couch, still in his crisp, pristine suit from work. He’s not scrolling through a holoscreen like usual. He’s looking straight at her. 

“What do you want?” Dasha says, instantly on guard. 

“Care to explain why a colleague of mine asked me how it felt to be the father of a killer?” Father drawls. “Apparently, you’re a murderer now.”

“High school rumors,” Dasha rolls her eyes. “You know how it is.”

“I don’t actually. Never got accused of killing somebody, when I was in high school,” Father says. “It’s not exactly a very good image for our family.”

“Right,” Dasha grits her teeth. “Because all you care about is image.”

“Regina told me you brought home two boys today,” Father says, gaze sharpening. How he looks at her is the same way one would look at a phonebook. Impersonal, bored, uncaring. She hates how that still stabs at her heart. “Your accomplices to the crime?”

“You can’t possibly think I actually did it.” Dasha laughs in disbelief. Then her breath catches in her throat. “Right?”

“I don’t know what to think, Dasha,” Father sighs, sounding so, so tired. Sounding as if that exhaustion is completely and irrevocably Dasha’s fault. “All I know is that I used to have a perfect little girl, except one day, I turned around and saw that she became a horrid, antisocial, vindictive monster.”

The cut in her heart turns into a snarling mouth, gnashing teeth. “You didn’t ‘turn around’ one day. You turned around _never_.”

“Is that what this is? More cries for attention? Dasha, I’m a busy man.”

“Doesn’t mean—” Burger says, walking from the hallway to stand next to Dasha. Dasha is so shocked to see him that she doesn’t know what to do. “—that you can’t be a good dad.”

“And who is this?” Father raises a slow, judgemental eyebrow.

“Burger,” Dasha hisses. “You don’t have to—”

“I’m her friend,” Burger says. Burger’s voice is always soft, in some way. Always nice. But now, it’s all bedrock. All hardness and strength.

“Be careful, then.” Father says. “Dasha’s never been good with those.”

“Father—”

“I’ve heard enough,” Father stands, looking at Dasha and Burger. “You know, Dasha, you’re my daughter. I do love you.”

He walks towards his room, but just before he can walk out of sight, he turns around and says. “But I’m quite sure I don’t like you.”

Dasha hears his footsteps as he walks away. She hears the faint sound of his door opening and closing. She feels the gentle grip of Burger’s hand on her arm, slowly leading her back to her room. She feels like she’s on autopilot, going through the motions of moving and breathing and sliding down against her door after Burger closes it. The pitcher of water and glass is pried out of her hands and set down somewhere, she doesn’t know. All she knows is that Father doesn’t like her. And she’s always known that, deep down. But she never knew how bad it would feel to hear him say it.

“Dasha?” Burger’s voice drifts into her ears, soft and concerned. “Can you hear me?”

“Yeah,” Dasha shakes her head, snapping her out of it. She laughs humorlessly. “Yeah, I can hear you. God.”

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to interrupt, but then he was being so mean to you, and I couldn’t—”

“It’s fine, Burger,” Dasha leans her head against the door. She laughs again, giggly and sharp. “What a joke, right? Mommy _and_ Daddy issues. Boo hoo, parents never showed an ounce of care for me, big whoop, what a horrible tragedy, please. I should be used to this, I should be stronger than this, I should—”

“Can I hug you?” Burger asks, all the kindness in the world in his gaze.

“Yeah,” Dasha nods after a few seconds of silence. “Yeah, you can.”

Burger leans in and puts his arms around her. It takes her a moment to get used to the completely novel feeling of being held before she puts her arms around him too. To her horror, she realizes she’s crying. Silently, of course, because she’s learned after years and years that making noise will never give her the love she hates that she still wants.

“It’s okay,” Burger rubs her back. “Let it out.”

“I’m fine,” Dasha’s hands clutching his stupidly soft shirt. “I always am.”

“We’re kids, Dash,” Burger says. “We shouldn’t have to be.”

They stay like that for a while. It’s the longest hug Dasha’s ever had in her life. 

-

Geoffrey drives Burger and Vang0 home the next day, and on that Saturday, they don’t talk about the case. They go along with their plan, planting their decoy messages in the groupchat and slowly transitioning to talking about normal, non-murder things. Vang0 sends stupid gamer memes to the chat and Burger sends pictures of horses to combat them and Dasha sends them pictures of Winona’s paws as payment for making them stop spam her agent with fifty inane images. 

She spends that weekend in her room, mostly thinking. Her emotions, and she’s so embarrassed that she still has those, were mostly wrung out dry with her heart to heart with Burger, so she spends her time thinking.

She thinks about Vang0 who hates that he’s scared all the time. She thinks about Burger who believes that not being okay isn’t a bad thing. She thinks about how these two stupid boys, whether they know it or not, get her on a level she’s never been got in her entire life.

She wanted to solve this case because she didn’t want to be another asshole doing nothing. She wanted to claw and fight her way to what she thought mattered to her.

It’s bigger than that now. It’s bigger than her and what she wants. It’s the lives of two people who matter to her, and Dasha isn’t letting them die. Not after she’s realized that, for the first time in her life, she’s got people on her side. People who care.

She started out wanting to solve this for herself. Now, she wants to solve it to keep her friends safe. She wants to solve it to figure out what happened to Tonez Walker. She wants to solve it to figure out who would do this to a kid, because that’s what they all are, and they’re scared, and they’re not okay, and that’s fine. Because that’s what being a kid is about. That doesn’t deserve punishment.

She’s knocked out of her thoughts at 7pm, Sunday, when her agent rings.

“Hello?” She says.

“Dasha?” That’s Vang0’s voice. “What’s up? I thought no calls?”

“Hi, Dasha!” And that’s Burger’s voice.

“I didn’t call you, my agent rang,” Dasha says, her defenses slowly going up.

“Huh, weird,” Burger muses. “Mine did too.”

“Me three,” Vang0 says slowly.

“Who called us all?” Dasha is starting to get a bad feeling about this.

The line crackles. Then, a voice Dasha would recognize anywhere begins speaking.

“GOOD EVENING, STUDENTS!” Robbie’s robotic voice says. “VEE BARKER,—”

“Whaaaat the fuck,” Vang0 says.

“BURGER CHAINZ,—”

“Robbie!” Burger says.

“DASHA EVANGELINE WOODROSE.”

“Who is this?” Dasha says, her voice wary and sharp.

“ROBBIE THE ROBODOG IS ACTING AS A MOUTHPIECE RIGHT NOW!” Robbie’s voice is tinny over the line. “I CAN’T HAVE YOU THREE HEARING MY REAL VOICE BEFORE THE RIGHT TIME, AFTER ALL.”

“I assume we’re talking to the murderer of Tonez Walker,” Dasha spits out. “Am I correct?”

“YES YOU ARE! AND YOU THREE HAVE BEEN A MAJOR PAIN IN MY ASS THIS WEEK, SO LET’S CUT A DEAL. IN ONE HOUR, YOU COME TO NCHS, TO DETENTION ROOM 2-A4, AND WE CAN ALL TALK ABOUT THIS SITUATION LIKE MATURE ADULTS.”

“Oh, come on,” Vang0 says. “That is so obviously a trap.”

“OH, ABSOLUTELY IS! BUT IF YOU DON’T DO IT, I’LL KILL SOMEBODY ELSE.” Robbie’s voice is incongruently cheery. “DO YOU WANT THAT? DO YOU WANT SOMEBODY ELSE’S BLOOD ON YOUR HANDS?”

Silence over the line.

“I THOUGHT SO,” Robbie says. “I LOOK FORWARD TO FINALLY SEEING YOU THREE IN PERSON.”

Robbie hangs up.

“Fuck,” Vang0 says.

“Fuck,” Burger says.

“No,” Dasha says fiercely, mind working a mile per minute. “Burger, pick us up. I have a plan.”

-

Burger picks them up in his van and when they’re all together, as Burger is driving to NCHS, Dasha tells them how they’re going to get out alive and win. Burger and Vang0 listen intently, they do everything she asks.

Burger pulls up at the parking lot, and they all get out of the van. 

“Hey, so, not that I don’t believe in the plan, or anything,” Burger says as they stop in front of the school entrance. “But I wanted to tell you guys that I love you.”

“Oh god,” Vang0 puts his face into his hands. “We’re going to die.”

“We’re not going to die,” Dasha says. “This is going to work.”

“Guh,” Vang0 lifts his face from his hands. “I love you guys too. Never thought I could, over the course of just a week, but the threat of death really brings in that bonding.”

“I—” Dasha starts, then decides to commit to some kind of honesty, what with how the situation is dire and all that. “I don’t _not_ love you guys. You guys—You guys are my friends.”

“Aw,” Vang0 bumps her shoulder, grinning.

“Sports team huddle?” Burger puts his hand out. 

“Why not,” Dasha shrugs, putting her hand down along with Burger’s and Vang0’s

“On the count of three?” Burger looks at all them, smiling. 

“Yeah,” Dasha says. 

“One, two, three, LET’S GO NOT FRIENDS!” Burger throws his hand up, and everybody’s hand goes up too.

They share one last smile with one another before climbing up the steps to the school entrance and pushing the door open. 

They get maybe three steps into the hall when something hard bashes against the back of Dasha’s head.

Her last thoughts, before her world goes black, are that she hopes her plan works.

And that her friends stay safe.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> im [actualbird](https://actualbird.tumblr.com) on tumblr!!! tell me what you liked about this chapter in the comments!!! :D
> 
> the line “I love you but I don’t like you” is inspired by scenes from Fleabag and Lady Bird. Sharp Objects is a very riveting show that has a terrible mother. burger singing the entirety of Sunglasses at Night by Corey Hart (complete with the guitar riffs) is inspired completely off of when i did the same thing to my gf who said she never heard the song before.
> 
> question: when this fic is done, i would like to post some extra post-murderplot scenes (i have a LOT of them planned out, fluff without plot, if you will). would you rather i do this as an extra chapter on this fic? or should i start a new fic for that and make a series? whichever the case, the amount of extra scenes i write will still be the same, this is just a matter of organization. lmk in the comments what u think!!!


	6. nobodies

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “An antisocial bitch. A dumb farmboy. And a pathetic streamer.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> and with this chapter i reveal that im not good at writing a true satisfying murder mystery reveal but i sure as hell can compensate with the one _hell_ of an entertaining boss battle fight scene
> 
> but before you read, ive made some stuff for this fic!!!!  
> -[school crest and recruitment brochure of Night City High School](https://actualbird.tumblr.com/post/623438390808969216/some-mock-up-materials-for-night-city-high-school)  
> -[a spotify playlist for this fic](https://open.spotify.com/playlist/4oNEQ1qT3hWESOQQ7koJUp?si=EdBB-YFzRViB1uw3YLepqA) which you should listen to NOT WHILE READING THIS CHAPTER BECAUSE!!!
> 
> because somewhere in this chapter, i link to a song. when that song link comes up, **i desperately implore you to play that song in another tab while continuing to read the fic.** please. do it for me.
> 
> okay okay you can read now :D

Burger is a dreamer. Both in the metaphorical sense (he wants to buy a boat one day) and in the literal sense (he dreams a lot about celebrities being Godzilla sized and attacking Night City a lot). 

This dream is really nice, though. No kaiju sized Beyonce punching buildings into smithereens, just a clear blue sky, bright green grass, and many, many horses. They trot around peacefully, grazing idly and neighing softly. A few meters away, he can see Dasha riding one of them, laughing as the wind blows in her hair. 

“This is really nice,” Vang0 says, and, oh, there he is, sitting right next to Burger. Sitting really close to Burger actually, with a gentle smile on his face. 

“Yeah,” Burger says, sighing contentedly. In his chest, he feels the happy warmth of being with his friends. On his face, though, he feels warm too. Huh.

Vang0’s hand brushes against Burger’s.

“Oh,” Burger looks at him. “I think I have a crush on you.”

“Figures it would take a dream for you to realize,” Vang0 snorts.

“I should do something about it,” Burger muses, inching his hand closer to Vang0’s. The warmth in his chest bleeds and grows, enveloping him in sunlight. 

“You should,” Vang0 hums. Then he pulls his hand away from Burger’s. “But first, you have to wake up.”

“But it’s so nice here,” Burger says. “Just a little longer?”

Vang0 shakes his head. “Your friends are in trouble.”

That makes Burger sit up straighter. “They are?”

“We all are,” Dasha says, riding up in front of the two of them. “And you have to help.”

“I do!” Burger stands, hyped up. “How do I wake up?”

“Easy,” Vang0 stands, maximizing his optic monitor into a handheld holoscreen. He faces the holoscreen towards Burger and says, “Just smile for the camera.”

“What?” Burger says, but then Vang0 clicks on the screen and there’s a flash and—

-

—a flash right in front of Burger’s face.

Burger opens his eyes blearily, groaning at the dull pain at the back of his head, and he realizes three things in quick succession.

One, his wrists are tied behind his back with rope. Two, Dasha and Vang0 are tied in the same manner and their wrists are tied all together, leaving them seated and back to back. Three, they are in detention room 2-A4 and they aren’t alone. The windows of the room only let so much bright neon lights stream in, and in the shadows of the room, behind an unplugged Robbie, Burger can make out the silhouettes of three people.

“Guys?” Burger nudges Dasha and Vang0, and they both start to stir. “Uh, guys, WAKE UP.”

“Whuh,” Vang0 slurs.

“My head is fucking killing me,” Dasha hisses. 

“Good evening, sleeping losers,” Somebody in the shadows says. She steps out into the light and—

“M-UA!” Vang0 says.

“The one and only,” M-UA smiles sweetly as she looks down on them. “Isn’t that right darling?” She says to the shadows, and somebody else steps into sight.

“Gio Harp,” Dasha growls.

“Lovely to finally meet you all,” Gio says, looking slick and pleased as he loops an arm around M-UA’s waist and gives her a kiss. “You can’t possibly be surprised that it’s us, are you?”

“Maybe—” The last person says, walking into the light. “—They’re just dumbasses.” 

“You!” Burger says, because he’s sure it’s his turn to say something. The only problem is that he doesn’t know who this new dude is. He looks like the average score of every teenage boy in the country. “I—don’t know who you are, actually. Sorry.”

The new guy sputters. “I’m Edgar!”

“Hi, Edgar!”

“I’m!” Edgar looks really offended. “I’m popular too! I’m Gio’s right hand man!”

“Really?” Vang0 sounds genuinely skeptical. “Your face seems specifically designed for forgetability, Edmund.”

“Edgar!”

“Shut up, Edgar,” Gio pinches the bridge of his nose. He turns to M-UA. “M, babe, did you get their pictures?”

“Yup,” M-UA grins. “Uploaded to Edgar’s laptop already.”

“Pictures?” Vang0 says, and Burger turns to see his confused expression. “What?”

“Oh, do keep up, Braces Barker,” Gio laughs.

“Vang0 Bang0,” Vang0 hisses, wrists tugging at the ropes.

“Why don’t you do us one better, Gio—” Dasha says, icy calm and fiery bite at the same time. “—and tell us what’s going on. Why were you stealing data from FacadePlus? Why did you order M-UA to post that thread? And most of all,” Burger turns to see Dasha’s eyes narrow, gaze strong and sharp like a knife. “Why did you kill Tonez Walker?”

“I’ve always wanted to do this,” Gio says to Edgar and M-UA, looking excited, of all things. “A villain monologue, and she’s literally asking for it!”

“Go for it, boss,” Edgar leans back against one of the desk’s lining the walls of the room.

“Yeah, Big G,” M-UA grins, taking a seat on the teacher’s desk.. “Take it away.”

“Big G…” Burger hears Vang0 murmur in disbelief. He feels Dasha elbow Vang0 in the gut. 

“As you must know, I’m next in line to the HarpCo. security empire.” Gio says, walking around where all three of them are tied and seated on the floor. He frowns. “Or, I _should_ be. My Dad doesn’t seem to think I’m “fit” for the position” He does the air quotes. “He says I’m too unstable, or whatever. Too volatile. Can you believe that!?” Gio exclaims, completely fuckin’ unhinged evil.

“Yeah!” Burger nods.

“You,” Gio points at him. “Shut up from now on.”

Burger pouts but he shuts up. 

He tunes out of the villain monologue for a moment, because Gio is just going on a tirade about how he’s angry his dad is a sane person. Burger’s eyes drift to the windows of the detention room. The one closest to where the three of them are seated is open a few inches.

Then he sees an angel.

“Peter!” Burger says, watching Peter’s bobbing head outside, looking inside curiously.

“Didn’t I just tell you to shut up?” Gio says.

“Sorry, sorry, continue, shutting up now,” Burger acquiesces, focused on Peter. 

The way they’re seated on the floor and angled means that Dasha is facing Gio, M-UA, and Edmund. Burger and Vang0 are angled more towards the window, so Vang0 sees Peter too and sends Burger a “what are you thinking?” eyebrow waggle. Burger tries to send him a “Peter is going to help us not die” eyebrow waggle back. Vang0’s eyebrows scrunch up in “I didn’t understand that at all” expression. Well, the show must go on. 

As Gio continues on his feral “I hate my Dad for being reasonable” TedTalk, Burger reaches into his back pocket where, just in case, he has a few sunflower seeds. He shakes the sunflower seeds in his hands and Peter sees this, perks up, and begins to squeeze his huge body through the open window before finally popping inside the room with a flutter soft enough that nobody but Burger and Vang0 notice it. 

“—My point is, that my Dad is an idiot, but he’s an idiot that just needs convincing, is all,” Gio says. He claps his hand on Edmund’s shoulder. “Well, the idea came to me when Edgar here told me he found out that Tonez Walker was working on FacadePlus. I sent him off to plant a little bug in that program. All the facial data goes to me, and I could finally get Dad to recognize my worth.”

“But then Tonez found the bug,” Dasha says slowly. 

“Unfortunate, that,” Gio doesn’t sound sorry at all. “We did try to talk to him, mind you. Tell him to keep his trap shut about the bug and launch the program to the public like normal. But he didn’t take the deal.” Gio’s voice turns dark, shadows and night. Burger hazards a glance back at Gio and Burger has trouble seeing a kid. Instead, he sees a monster in a kid’s body. “He left us with no choice. He had to die and we had to do it.”

“You’re evil,” Dasha says. She looks at Gio, M-UA, and Edmund. “You’re all evil.”

“It’s called business, sweetheart,” Gio rolls his eyes. “Look it up.”

Peter starts to walk towards them, but fuck, he’s so chunky, he needs a distraction. Burger elbows Vang0 meaningfully, and, amazingly, he catches Burger’s drift.

“There’s one thing I still don’t get,” Vang0 says, making Gio and company’s attention swivel to him and not to the overfed pigeon waddling its way to Burger, Vang0, and Dasha. While they’re distracted, Peter squeezes his rotund body into the space between Vang0 and Burger’s bodies. Burger shakes the sunflower seeds, and Peter starts to peck at the ropes covering their wrists. “Why would you need facial data anyway?”

“What better security is a camera that can instantly identify you?” Gio’s tone is so dark that Burger feels a shiver go down his spine.

He looks at Gio just at the moment his gaze goes even worse. No longer just shadows. Complete darkness.

“That’s not even the best part,” Gio says. “See, we took a video of us committing the crime.”

“Why?” Dasha’s voice is puzzled, for the first time in this conversation. “That’s evidence against you.”

“Is it?” Gio laughs. “With FacadePlus’ capability of erasing facial data on any footage, Edgar here managed to reverse engineer it and create something incredible. Something that can _superimpose_ anybody’s face onto any footage at all.”

There’s a brief moment of silence, that information sinking in.

“You,” Vang0 says, fear in his voice. “You took pictures of us.”

“And now we have your facial data!” Gio claps his hands together. He walks up to the three of them and looks down. Burger tries to see him for the kid he is. He tries to look at the expensive sneakers or the preppy polo shirt. But he can’t see a kid anymore. All he sees is somebody consumed by the shadows of Night City. Somebody who doesn’t want to come back to the light. “See, we’re not like you three. We’re actually smart. We knew that eventually, somebody would want a culprit to the crime, so we took footage of three people killing Tonez Walker.”

“All we needed,” M-UA says from her perch on the teacher’s desk. “Were three people absolutely nobody cared about.”

“I saw Mr. Hypo lead you guys to detention,” Edmund says, leaning back on the chair against the wall. “Three losers, perfect for the crime.”

“A school outcast,” Gio starts circling the three of them. “A stupid hick,” His words fall onto them like knives. “And a friendless nerd.” He circles back to Dasha, smiling perfectly, terribly. “You three were perfect. M plants the seeds of doubt, the video of you three killing Tonez comes out, and you all get arrested because you’re nobodies who _no one_ would ever fight for. M-UA and Edgar rise up with me and it’s all over. The perfect crime. The perfect plan. My perfect—”

“Our,” M-UA and Edmund say. 

“ _Our_ perfect happy ending,” Gio finishes.

Burger feels the ropes around all of their wrists go slack.

“Hey,” Burger turns to Gio. “Can I ask for a favor? Like a final meal, but instead of a meal, it’s a request?”

“Depends on the request,” Gio crosses his arms. “We’re not idiots like you, we won’t do anything that’ll help you.”

“Oh, it’s nothing like that,” Burger says, flexing his hands open and closed. He pets Peter gently behind his back for a job well done. “There’s just a song I want to listen to before my friends and I are convicted of murder. Can you plug Robbie in?”

“Why not?” Gio shrugs. “Babe, plug the dumb thing.”

M-UA flips her hair, hopping off of the table and plugging Robbie in. “Pick a good song, loser.”

“I think you guys will like this one,” Burger grins, watching Robbie power up. “Robbie!”

Robbie turns to Burger with his beautiful, beautiful OwO face. 

“Robbie, music selection, 80s,” Burger says. “Play [Bad Reputation by Joan Jett and the Blackhearts](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x6fB8KMUnz0).” 

Burger waits for the guitar riff to come in before he suddenly stands, giving Dasha and Vang0 the signal to burst into action too. 

_”I don’t give a damn ‘bout my reputation. You’re living in the past, it’s a new generation.”_

In the corner of his eye, Burger sees Vang0 grab a chair from the wall and toss it at M-UA, he sees Dasha charge and punch Gio in the face, he sees his friends start to fight with these people, and after that, he can’t pay attention very much else because Edmundton freezes in shock then sets his eyes on Burger. 

Burger picks up the closest thing. 

That thing happens to be Peter.

“Peter!” Burger looks at Peter in the eye as Edmundton picks up a chair and starts menacingly walking towards Burger. He says, very quickly “Do you consent to be used as a self defense projectile!?”

Peter, pigeonly, nods.

“Thank youuuuuuuu!” Burger yells as he throws Peter at Edmundton’s face.

Peter lands with a feathery _thwap_ , landing butt first onto a bewildered Edmundton. Then, Peter goes talons out and starts scratching at Edmundton’s face as Edmundton screams, falling backwards.

Burger immediately pounces on top of him as Peter flaps away to the sunflower seeds Burger left on the floor where they were tied. Burger pins Edmundton to the ground and punches him in the face as hard as he possibly can. Edmundton is knocked out cold, blood dripping from his mouth.

“Everybody, STOP!” M-UA says, and Burger turns and—

Dasha and Vang0 are no longer actively in combat with Gio and M-UA respectively. Dasha has Gio in a chokehold, holding a switchblade to his neck. Vang0 is on the floor, hands up in surrender, because M-UA, standing right next to an incongruently OwO-ing Robbie, has a gun. 

She has a gun pointed down at Vang0.

Burger’s heart sinks.

“Why the fuck do you have a knife in your boot?” Gio hisses.

“Why the fuck does _she_ have a _gun_ in her _purse?_ ” Dasha retorts.

“Because I’m the baddest bitch in Night City.” M-UA flips her hair over her shoulder. “Duh.”

“Oh, please, I’m badder than you’ll ever be, princess.”

“Hey, uh!” Vang0 says, voice wavering and wild. “Not to interrupt, but like! Uh!”

Burger watches the stand off, frozen in fear. For once in his life, he wills his mind to think of something smart. To think of a _plan_.

“Will you really kill me, Woodrose?” Gio grits out in Dasha’s hold. “I don’t think you have it in you. But M? Oh, she’s a killer, alright.”

“That I am,” M-UA grins, and in slow motion, Burger watches her put her finger on the trigger.

The world stops. 

Burger looks at Dasha’s destroyed expression.

Burger looks at the monumental fear and sadness in Vang0’s eyes. 

Burger looks at the peaceful OwO of Robbie’s face—

Burger—

Burger has an _idea_.

“Robbie!” Burger says quickly. Robbie turns to him helpfully. “DAB!”

“ALRIGHTY!” Robbie says, dabbing with all the strength in his animatronic body.

M-UA, who was standing right next to Robbie, gets hit by Robbie’s dab square in the face. She drops the gun, hands going for her bleeding nose, and staggers back. In that moment, Vang0 scrambles for the gun, taking it in his shaking hands, and pointing it at M-UA.

Gio wriggles out of Dasha’s grip, and Dasha lets him go. Gio looks at M-UA, not daring to move. He looks at Edmundton, not moving at all. He looks at Dasha, Vang0, and Burger as they walk towards each other, facing Gio head on. Joan Jett’s voice stops filtering in through Robbie, and all that’s left is silence. 

All that’s left is the Not Friends and the Bad Guy.

“What do you losers think you’re going to achieve with this, huh?” Gio laughs, but there’s a strain there that wasn’t there before. He limps towards them, breaking and unraveling “Even if you knock us out, we’ll still frame you, and you’ll still go down because you’re _nobodies_.”

“Nobodies, huh,” Dasha says, folding her switchblade and putting it into her pocket. “What is it you called us three, again?”

Gio looks at each of them as he spits out the words. “An antisocial bitch. A dumb farmboy. And a pathetic streamer.”

“Pathetic?” Burger smiles, laying his arm over Vang0’s shoulder. “Say, Gio, how many followers do you have on Twitter?”

“What?” Gio says. “1847.”

Burger smiles wider, then turns to Vang0. “Want to do the honors, Vang0 Bang0?”

“Why, yes, I would, Burger Chainz,” Vang0 grins. He looks to Gio. “I don’t think a 'pathetic' streamer would have 2,400 people watching this stream right now.”

“What?” Gio says, genuinely lost.

Vang0 turns his back to Gio as he maximizes his optic monitor into a holoscreen showing his stream setup, his stream setup that’s been streaming ever since they arrived at the school, just like Dasha told him to do. On the screen, everybody in the room can see the chat in shock and disarray, and Gio has a perfect view of his face staring right back at him, pale, shaking, and finally realizing what has been going on.

“Hey, everybody!” Vang0 says to the stream. He throws an arm around Dasha and Burger, pulling them into the camera. Peter flaps over and sits on top of Vang0’s head. “Vang0 Bang0, Dapper Dasha, and Burger Chainz here. Hope you enjoyed this stream where Gio Harp, Emmanuela Yong, and—” Vang0 pauses, glancing over at the unconscious teenage boy in the corner. “Sorry, what was his name again?”

“Edmundtonston,” Burger answers.

“Yeah, sure, why not.” Vang0 shrugs. “Anyway, these three pieces of garbage just confessed to data theft, planned framing, and the murder of Tonez Walker for your very eyes.”

“You can’t do this!” Gio says, but Dasha takes the gun from Vang0’s hand, takes it in her own, and points it at Gio without even looking away from the camera. 

Outside, through the windows, the red and blue flashing lights of police cars stream in. Gio’s eyes widen and he falls to his knees. 

“Don’t forget to like and subscribe for more of that good gooooood content,” Vang0 says, huddling a smiling Dasha and Burger closer to him. Cops come into the room, apprehending M-UA, Edmundtonston, and Gio. “Again, we’re the Not Friends. Vang0 Bang0 out.”

Before the camera shuts off, Burger sees the best thing ever. Him, Dasha, and Vang0 all smiling. All safe. All together.

Burger is a dreamer.

But he wouldn’t give up this moment for anything.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> im [actualbird](https://actualbird.tumblr.com) on tumblr!!! i had SO MUCH FUN writing this chapter, so i would love to hear your thoughts!
> 
> SHOUTOUT to my dnd group for helping me hash out the ethics of throwing a pigeon (who is your friend) at somebody who is evil. the consensus was that the pigeon must first consent to being thrown, which i made happen. thanks for your legit thoughtful answers to my ridiculous question, guys!!!
> 
> as you may have noticed, i changed the total chapters of this fic from 7 to 8. chapter 7 will be the last “plot” chapter and chapter 8 will be all the fluffy post plot extra scenes i have planned :D


	7. somebodies

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This world they live in, the city they call home, it’s not nice. But there are people like these who make it worth it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> let kids go home. tell kids youre proud of them. show kids that light can shine through.

After the boss battle, after the cops get Gio, M-UA, and Edmund, after they take the statements of Vang0, Dasha, and Burger, after the fucking press crowds around the entrances to NCHS—because a lot of people watched Vang0’s stream, so much to the point that it made it onto the news channels—to ask the three teen heroes a bunch of questions, Vang0 finally is allowed to go home.

He’s not excited for what’s to come, but now that the adrenaline has worn off, now that the bright feeling of victory has settled to a low and satisfying buzz, Vang0 realizes he’s just tired. He feels tired in a very childish way, like he’s falling asleep on a trip to the mall and he wants to go home.

He really wants to go home.

So he does.

Mom is waiting for him on the couch when he enters the apartment. She’s got a frown on her face and a gaze that says that Vang0 is fucked.

“Hi, Mom,” Vang0 says awkwardly.

“You,” Mom says. “Are grounded.”

“Yeah…” He scratches the back of his head.

“Quite possibly for the rest of your life.”

“That’s honestly pretty valid.”

“I am never letting you out of my sight until time itself collapses.”

“I deserve that.”

“Vang0!” Mom stands, expression harried and pained. She gestures haltingly. “You’re not supposed to agree with me! You’re sixteen, you’re supposed to fight back and ask for your freedom then stomp off to your room to sulk until we come to a compromise!”

Vang0 laughs. “Sorry. I’m just a bit.” He sighs. “Tired.”

“Oh, Vang0,” Mom’s shoulders slump. She looks tired too. She sits down on the couch and opens her arms. “Come here, darling.”

Vang0 walks over to the couch, plops onto it, and falls into Mom’s embrace. She’s warm and soft and safe and Vang0 wants to break apart in her hold because he knows, he knows she would put him back together with gentle hands.

“Shhh, it’s okay,” She says, rubbing his back. Vang0 didn’t realize he was crying. 

“Sorry. I don’t know why I’m crying,” Vang0 sniffles. They won. They solved the case and put the bad guys away. Why is he crying?

“You’re crying because you’re a kid,” Mom holds him close. “And there’s nothing wrong with that.”

“Oh,” Vang0 says. Because he doesn’t have anything to say to that, he just turns his face into the crook of Mom’s neck and lets her hold him through it.

He lets himself be young for a moment.

“I guess you watched the stream, huh?” Vang0 says once the tears finally stop. He has to have this conversation eventually. Better now than never.

“I did. You’d be hard pressed to find anybody in Night City who didn’t,” Mom says. Her grip on Vang0 tightens minutely. Not hard enough to hurt, just hard enough as if she’s afraid that if she holds too loosely, Vang0 will slip through her fingers. “Imagine my surprise when the nurses on shift told me to turn on the holoscreen to the news, and I see a stream hosted by none other than my own son. I see terrible children saying terrible things that they’ve done. That they plan to do. I see—” Mom’s voice breaks. “—I see a girl point a gun straight at the camera.”

“I’m sorry,” Vang0 says. He’d cry if he still had more tears, but he’s all out for now. Instead, he rasps out the words, offering them up even though he knows he doesn’t deserve forgiveness. “I’m so sorry for lying. I didn’t want you to worry, I—”

“Vang0,” Mom pulls back, her hands squeezing Vang0’s shoulders. “I’m your mother and I love you. It’s my job to worry about you.”

“But I can make that job easier, I can be better, I can—”

“The only thing you should be,” Mom interrupts him. “Is honest. Safe. Happy. That’s all I ask of you.”

“I don’t know if I can do that,” Vang0 looks down.

Mom tips his head up gently. “Then I’ll help you. Because we’re a team, got it?”

“Got it,” Vang0 nods. 

“You’re a great kid, Vang0.” Mom shifts on the couch so that Vang0 is leaning against her, and she softly pets his head. “Sometimes you’re too great for your own good. Despite everything, I’m glad you and your friends found out what happened to that student. I’m glad you beat the bad guys.”

“Yeah?” Vang0 looks up at her, smiling a little bit.

“Yeah,” Mom smiles back at him. Then she goes stern. “You’re still grounded, though.”

Vang0 slumps against her. “For how long?”

“For...a month.”

Vang0 pouts. “A week?”

Mom narrows her eyes at him. “Two weeks.”

“I’ll take it,” Vang0 shrugs. Then he thinks for a moment about the future. About things he wants to do and words he wants to say. “Can I, uh. Can I ask for one free day, though?”

“And why is that, young man?” Mom raises an eyebrow. “There better not be another murder lined up for you to investigate.”

“No, uh,” Vang0 coughs, feeling his face go warm and flushed. “There’s. There’s a boy I wanna ask out on a date.”

“Vang0!” Mom gasps, grinning. “How much haven’t you been telling me? Details! Now!”

Vang0 laughs, falling back onto the couch as Mom asks a hundred questions per second. He’s home now. He’s home.

-

Geoffrey is the only one who hugs Dasha. Her parents avoid her when she comes home that night, probably still discussing whether or not Dasha Evangeline Woodrose: Murder Solving Teen Hero is good for the Woodrose image or not. It’s whatever. She doesn’t care about what they think of her.

At least she tells herself that.

Going into school the next day is a bit of a trip though. When she gets out of the limo, people in the parking lot start clapping for her. A bunch of students whoop happily. As she’s walking, somebody asks for a _high five_. Her morning classes pass like that, people smiling at her, people looking at her with a mix of the usual fear she’s cultivated around her reputation, but now there’s also admiration. Respect. 

When she gets out of the classroom for lunch break, she passes by Kandella in the hallway. She’s got her arms around some other girl, her girlfriend Peaches, probably, and their gazes connect. Kandella mouths a ‘thank you’ at Dasha and Dasha can’t help but smile and nod back.

She goes over to the vending machines because she figures it’s her turn to get snacks this time when somebody taps her on the shoulder. Dasha turns around, a bunch of granola bars in her arms, and sees Freefall. 

“Hi,” Freefall says. Her eyeliner is still smudged and she still looks like she’s been crying on and off, but she looks. Better. Less a fraying edge and more like somebody on the mend. “You held a knife against Gio’s neck.”

“I did do that, yes,” Dasha says, a bit awkward. She doesn’t really do conversations that don’t have a clear goal, and she hasn’t figured out what this exchange is for yet. 

“That was awesome,” Freefall smiles softly. “Can I hug you?”

“What?” Dasha is lost.

“Can I hug you?” Freefall repeats, looking determined. 

“Uh,” Dasha doesn’t have a good reason to say no, so she shrugs. “Sure.”

Freefall bolts forward, wrapping her arms around Dasha. She’s shorter than Dasha, as most people are, and Dasha stands stock still, looking down at the top of Freefall’s head, concentrating on not dropping the granola bars trapped between them.

“Thank you,” Freefall says into Dasha’s shoulder. She pulls back, her eyes shining with unshed tears.“Thank you for finding out who did this to Tonez.”

Then, without even waiting for Dasha’s reply, Freefall walks away.

“What just happened?” Dasha says to the empty hallway at large. 

Not so empty. Somebody turns into the corner and reveals themselves saying, “You’re a celebrity hero now, that’s what happened.”

“Mr. Hypo,” Dasha says. Mr. Hypo leans against the wall. “What are you doing here?”

“Same reason as Freefall,” Mr. Hypo says. “To thank you.”

“I didn’t do it alone,” Dasha reminds him. “My friends—”

“I know.” He waves a hand. “And I _am_ going to give Vang0 and Burger the same talk when I have the time, but I found you first.” Mr. Hypo looks at Dasha. There’s this gaze in his eyes, a gaze a lot of people in Night City have. It’s exhaustion, but Mr. Hypo’s gaze has something different in it now. If Dasha were a mushier person, she’d admit that it looks like hope. “Thank you. You helped make Night City a little less dark.”

Dasha feels something in her chest begin to tighten. The same thing that wails and cries and wants nothing more than to just be seen and appreciated. That thing unfurls for the first time in a long time. It starts to open up for the sun.

“I’m proud of you, Woodrose,” Mr. Hypo says.

She’s never been told that in her entire life.

“Mr. Hypo, I—” She says, but realizes she doesn’t have a reply for that.

“Quick tip, though?” Mr. Hypo turns around to leave. “Quit the smoking.”

Now _that_ she has a reply to. “You can’t tell me what to do.”

Mr. Hypo glances back, an amused smile on his face. “See you next time you get detention for it, then.”

“Looking forward to it,” Dasha grins, turning to leave as well.

What other people think of her doesn’t matter. At least she tells herself that. But maybe, some of them can matter to her. The ones that are softer. The ones that are kinder. The ones that can take the sharpness in her chest and pry the knife away from her grip for a moment.

Just for a moment. 

Just for a moment that means something.

-

Burger has a lot of people who want to be friends with him now. It’s a little overwhelming, everybody patting him on the shoulder and asking him to hang out. Going from zero friends to the entire population of NCHS being a possible friend, should he say yes, is a huge jump, and Burger needs some space. 

He needs the friends he already has. 

Burger walks over to the back of the school. He walks over to where it all started, the spot under the bleachers where he punched Ross in the face for being a dick to Vang0. The spot where they made their plans, talked about the clues, and slowly figured out the mystery. 

The spot under the bleachers on the grass where Peter is already waddling around.

“Peter!” Burger runs to him, falling to his knees on the grass. He picks Peter up and cuddles him to his face. “Oh, Peter, thank you so much for your help last night.”

“Croo,” Peter says.

“He still can’t understand you,” A familiar, wonderful voice says from behind him. Burger puts Peter down and turns to see Vang0 with his hands in his pockets, smiling easily. 

“Like I said, he doesn’t have to,” Burger replies easily, feeling that wonderful morning light warmth burst in his chest. “Hi, Vang0.”

“Hi, Burger,” Vang0 flushes a bit, but he doesn’t look away.

Huh.

“Let’s sit down,” Vang0 says.

They settle down on the grass. The sky is smoggy, like it always is, but there are patches of blue. Little windows where the sun could possibly shine through.

“How are you doing?” Burger asks him.

“Was a bit of a mess, last night, when I got home,” Vang0 says, but he doesn’t look bothered by it. “Realized some stuff. Realized that after getting a gun pointed at me, that I was kinda tired of being scared all the time.”

“Oh?” Burger leans back. Vang0’s got that look on his face, the one that means he wants to say something, and this time, Vang0 doesn’t seem to need prompting. He looks like he’ll say it all by himself.

“Remember when you told me before? The thing about kindness and bravery?” Vang0 looks down at the grass.

Burger nods. “Yeah. They—”

“—Matter.” Vang0 looks up, meeting Burger’s gaze head on. There’s something in his eyes that’s new. Something that’s strong. “So I thought, okay. Why don’t we have a little demonstration. You be kindness, and I’ll be bravery, yeah?”

Burger tilts his head. “Wha?”

“ _My point is_ ,” Vang0 says, blushing furiously now but not averting his gaze. “That I’m about to do a brave thing. And I hope that whatever happens after that, you’ll be kind about it.”

“Okay,” Burger says, amused. As if he could ever be anything but kind to Vang0. “What’s your brave thing, then?”

“This,” Vang0 says and he—

He reaches over and holds Burger’s hand.

Oh.

“Burger Chainz,” Vang0 says. Burger can feel his hand trembling a little, but Burger shifts his own hand to thread their fingers together. “Will you go out on a date with me?”

Burger smiles. He’s smiled a lot in his life, but none of those smiles have ever felt like this. Like a sunrise back on the farm, like the laughter of the people who matter to him, like somewhere bright and warm where he can settle. 

“Vang0 Bang0,” Burger does what feels most natural. He lifts up Vang0’s hand and gives the back of it a small kiss. “I’d love to.”

Vang0 is staring at him, wide eyed and very, very red.

Hm. Maybe the hand kiss was a bit too much.

“Nice! Awesome!” Vang0 squeaks out. The rest of his words come out extremely fast. “We can watch a movie, your pick, and, oh god, I don’t have a car, I can’t pick you up, can you pick me up? I’ll cover the credits on this date and we can maybe hold hands in the cinema and—”

“That sounds great,” Burger says, squeezing Vang0’s hand gently. “Friday night?”

Vang0 nods, stilted, but there’s a giddy smile on his face now. “Friday night.”

“Oh, wow,” Dasha says, walking over to them moments later and dropping a bunch of granola bars on the grass. “The vibes here sure are rainbows and unicorns. What happened?”

“Vang0 asked me out on a date!” Burger raises his hand that’s still holding Vang0’s. “I said yes!”

Dasha sits on the grass and punches Vang0 in the shoulder. “Not brave, my ass.”

“What can I say?” Vang0 grins. “A near death experience was just the push I needed, I guess.”

“Right,” Dasha rolls her eyes. “You should expect Mr. Hypo to talk to you guys, some time this week.”

“Are we in trouble?” Burger asks.

“Nah. He just wants to give you sappy gratitude.”

“Awww!”

“Speaking of sappy gratitude, I came here to tell you guys something,” Dasha says, boss voice activated. “The case is over.”

“It is,” Vang0 nods.

“So,” Dasha says. “You guys aren’t my teammates anymore.”

Burger looks down at the grass.

The sky is overcast.

“You guys aren’t my team anymore,” Dasha continues. Then she pauses. Burger looks up to see Dasha take a deep breath, and then exhale slowly. She shuts her eyes, as if what she’s about to say pains her slightly. “Because you guys are now my friends.”

The sun peeks into one of the patches of smog in the sky.

Burger smiles. He feels the warmth of the sun.

“Did you really have to start that statement like that?” Vang0 complains. “You’re such a drama queen.”

“I said something nice at the end,” Dasha retorts. “That must make up for it.”

“You’re ridiculous, holy shit.”

“Don’t call me ridiculous, Mister ‘only had the guts to ask somebody out on a date _after_ almost dying’.”

Dasha and Vang0 start bickering, and Burger can’t help the laugh that comes out of him. It bubbles up in his chest, fizzy and happy. Bright. 

This world they live in, the city they call home, it’s not nice. But there are people like these who make it worth it. People who make Burger feel like how he feels right now, warm and content. He squeezes Vang0’s hand, he looks at Dasha’s smile, and the brightness around him feels like it’s also inside of him. That if anybody were to take a look into Burger’s heart, all they would see is light.

The world won’t be nice to them, but Burger thinks they’ll be alright.

He looks around at his friends, and he believes it.

They’re going to be alright.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thats the plot wrapped up folks!!! dont fret, because theres still one more chapter for all post murder plot extra scenes where vang0, dasha, and burger get face a much more teenager problem: the homecoming dance
> 
> sad that this fic wip is about to end? [why not check out the first chapter of my new pcpr fic wip! it’s a daemon au and it’s a tad angstier and darker but maybe you might like it!!!](https://archiveofourown.org/works/25381048)
> 
> as always, im [actualbird](https://actualbird.tumblr.com) on tumblr!!! every single one of your comments gives me life :D


End file.
